Samhain's Child
by Zoeth
Summary: Throughout her life she has Seen things and finally the day comes when the reason why starts to reveal itself. Her Visions lead her to an abandoned Loki in newly mortal form and she knows that from now on their Fates are bound, for better or for worse. Character driven Loki/OC friendship/possible slow-burn romance. As of Chapter 17 onwards: Avengers now in attendance.
1. The Day Things Changed

**Samhain's Child**

_Throughout her life she has Seen things and finally the day comes when the reason why starts to reveal itself. Her Visions lead her to an abandoned Loki in newly mortal form and she knows that from now on their Fates are bound, for better or for worse._

o

This is set several months after the Avengers, just after Loki's punishment has been decided. I know banishment in mortal form has already been done (a lot) but to me it makes most sense as a punishment and I've had the idea of a character who has 'visions' for ages and thought she could fit in quite well to such a story and thus, this fic was born. :]

**As ever, I do not own anything related to the Avengers or anything else Marvel-y; I only claim ownership of my OC(s) and this particular plotline.**

Rated T for occasional bad language, and probably deep, reasonably mature themes.

Also I know my cover is fairly crap but it's all I could think of .

o

A couple of notes which you'll probably find useful before you read:

**Efanna – AY-vanna; a form of Efa – AY-va: **

Welsh form of Eve meaning 'life'

**Samhain – Sow-in ('sow' as in 'how'): **

31st October-1st November, these days more commonly known as Hallowe'en, Samhain (also spelt Samhuinn or Sauin) is a Pagan/Celtic/Gaelic festival celebrating the Celtic/Gaelic new year and honouring the dead. It's particularly important for this fic for the reasons in the quotation below:

'**At Samhain, time lost all meaning and the past, present, and future were one.' **

(_Deeper Into Samhain_ by Susa Morgan Black (Druid, FSA Scot) article can be found at www . druidry . org)

o

**Chapter One:**

**The Day Things Changed**

* * *

_The walls glow golden and intricate patterns cover the black floor. The room is crowded but there are two to whom the attention is drawn. At one end of the hall, on a raised dais stands a man with white hair and a golden eye-patch beneath his elaborate helmet. He radiates power and wisdom and his single eye is filled with a riot of emotions; anger, disappointment, pity, love; but the one that shines above all the rest is regret. What it is that he does fills him with a great sadness. At this moment he wishes above all else that this did not have to come to pass._

_The second man is younger, slimmer and far less conflicted. His green eyes burn with hatred beneath his slicked back, jet black hair. He is chained and gagged and paraded into the hall by armed guards, but nonetheless maintains an air of composure and superiority. When he reaches the dais he is forced to his knees in front of the King he no longer acknowledges._

"_Loki Odinson - "_

_Loki interrupts the speech with a low growl, green eyes flashing anger. The guard at his side raises a hand to silence him but all are cut off by the power of Odin's voice._

"_Loki Odinson," he repeats in a tone that brooks no argument, "Your trial is over. Your punishment has been agreed." _

_Odin looks down at his adopted son and his voice becomes weary._

"_For the crimes you have committed you are no longer worthy of your power; you are no longer worthy of your title; you are no longer worthy to live amongst the peoples of Asgard." _

_With a sigh the great King lifts his spear and levels it at the trickster's chest._

"_I hereby strip you of your power and bind you in mortal form until such day as you are able to love and be loved without compromise, nor falsehood, nor exemption. If you ever wish to atone you must prove beyond all doubt that your heart is capable of honesty, of forbearance and of compassion. Until such day Asgard, and all it entails, will be forever lost to you."_

_A surge of power grows in the air around the All-Father and with his next words envelops Loki with a blinding flash and a deafening roar._

"_And so, in the name of my Father, and his Father before him, I, Odin All-Father, cast you out!"_

"Bugger!"

Efanna's eyes had fluttered open to find that she was sprawled out on the floor and scattered around her were the shattered remains of her favourite vase. The flowers it had been holding were lying limp next to her hand and a large puddle was slowly seeping across the slate of her kitchen floor and soaking into her clothes. She had been going to refill the vase when the Vision had come, knocking her unconscious as always. Gingerly, she sat up, being careful not to cut herself on the jagged shards and checked that she hadn't hurt herself. More than once she'd woken up covered in blood from a gash on her head and over the course of her twenty-one years she'd broken her leg, arm and wrist and sprained her ankles several times. It was a miracle that she'd never gotten concussion, but she put that down to her strange ability to heal herself that seemed to come with her Visions. It was something she assumed was necessary seeing as they were completely unpredictable and always resulted in her falling unconscious on the spot.

Not that she had any way of telling, she thought to herself as she carefully picked the larger shards up and fetched a dustpan and brush to clear up the rest. Her Visions could hardly be called normal, neither could her abilities of self-restoration. Even her mother, who had had some connection with what she had called the Natural Magiks had never heard of anything of the like. Only in the oldest legends and myths of the world was there anyone with skills such as hers. She'd not even Seen anyone else like her, although the world seemed to be producing more and more people with extraordinary skills, whether through birth or Fate. She knew she was not the only one who could be considered abnormal.

Efanna had been born at exactly midnight on Samhain, the hour at which the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest. She had been an unusual child right from the off; from the moment her eyes had opened her irises had been a luminescent white, enclosed by the darkest of rings, rather than the usual blue. Initially the midwife had thought her blind, but it soon became clear that she could see perfectly well and she grew it became obvious that she could 'see' far more than just what was in front of her.

She sighed as she deposited the last of her broken vase into the bin and trudged upstairs to change her now sodden top and jeans. This skill of hers had ruled her life. There were times when she might have said ruined, but she had grown to accept her strange powers and the consequences they had on the way she lived. And it wasn't really the end of the world that she had to replace her vase. Again. At least the internet meant she rarely had to leave home to replace the various things she managed to break when her Visions struck, even if delivery times were never particularly quick to her small cottage in the middle of the Welsh valleys.

She wasn't particularly bothered by her most recent Vision. As far as she could tell it was something that had happened, was happening, or was going to happen fairly close to the present, but she was so used to such things that she rarely stopped to think about them until she'd managed to sort out whatever mess they'd left her in. It was only after she had returned to her kitchen in a fresh pair of grey skinny jeans and her favourite purple hoodie and dug around her cupboards for a new vase that she realised the full import of her latest collapse. When she stepped back to consider the old milk jug she'd put the flowers in (having been unable to find a vase) it suddenly hit her that she'd Seen this day before. And she knew where she was going to be that afternoon. She glanced at her watch; it was 11:23.

"Bugger," she muttered again before hurrying to grab her bag and pull on a scruffy pair of boots and a thin pair of black cotton gloves. Two minutes later she was manoeuvring her old Land Rover down the muddy track that connected her cottage with the nearest lane, and then, several miles later, to the nearest proper road. At 14:47 she was going to meet a man on the waterfront at Cardiff Bay and it was at least a two and a half hour drive, even when the traffic was good.

Her Visions were rarely this specific, and, especially when they concerned the future, this exact. But this one she had Seen over and over throughout her life, always the same and always accompanied by the notion that whatever would become of this meeting was something that was Fated. She'd long ago learnt to sense the importance of the things she Saw, and this seemed to be right up there with the destruction in Manhattan earlier that year. Hence why she was dashing out of her house in the middle of a very rainy September with nothing but a hoodie and driving for hours to meet a strange man in the middle of a city she hadn't been to since she was eight.

If anyone had known what she was doing they would probably think about getting her sectioned.

Efanna however knew many things that others did not, and many more that they would never believe even if they did. She knew who the man she was rushing to meet was. And even if she wasn't Fated to meet him, he wasn't the sort of person she wanted wondering the streets of Cardiff, even if she had to drive halfway across the country to retrieve him.

After all, Loki had destroyed the last Earth city he'd visited.

* * *

**Please let me know what you think, I currently have no idea where this is going and I'd like to know if anyone else is interested in finding out! Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated as I want to improve my writing, if there's anything you don't like, give me a reason and a possible suggestion for improvement :] Although of course I'd be thrilled just to know you like it too! :P**


	2. A Fated Meeting

**Thank you to all those who have signed up to alerts for this story and thank you very much _xXxDragonxPhoenixXx_ for my review! :D**

I've had a massive splurge of inspiration for this story and now have a PLAN! for how it's going to pan out – although Loki and Efanna are still keeping the details from me. You can expect a deep look at Loki and Efanna's characters along with a developing relationship, the nature of which which is still uncertain, and the addition, later in the story, of all the Avengers in all their glory along with an attempt to conquer/destroy Earth. I'm actually quite excited about finding out what happens now, and I hope you will be too!

o

So here is Chapter 2! It's quite a bit longer than last time! (Good thing? Bad thing?)

(Unfortunately) I'm not Welsh and have only been to Cardiff twice so my knowledge of the city for this chapter is based mostly on Google Maps, with a little artistic licence. If you _do_ know Cardiff then I apologise for any inaccuracies. Also, if you are Welsh and have knowledge of any colloquialisms I could use to make my characters sound more Welsh then please let me know! On the whole I'm going to avoid the Welsh language though as I don't trust Google Translate not to make a hash of it.

Narrative POVs will switch between Loki and Efanna. I think I've made it fairly clear who's is who's, but if you think I should add markers then let me know :] Hopefully I've done justice to Loki's slightly deranged and extremely changeable personality.

Now I'll shut up and actually let you read the thing!

o

**Chapter Two:**

**A Fated Meeting**

* * *

When Loki landed, he landed hard. Mortal bodies, he noted, were ill suited for travelling between realms. His head ached and swam, his limbs were weak and would not move and a heavy blackness encroached on the corners of his mind. He was only able to gain a brief impression of where he now lay before the darkness overcame him and his consciousness fled.

He was woken many hours later by a voice in a strange, lilting accent he had not heard before.

"Oi, mate! You can't sleep here!"

Slowly he eased open his eyes and took stock of his surroundings, raising a hand to his temple as his head protested at such movement. He could just about make out a street, lined on one side with trees behind the figure of a bald man in some sort of uniform leaning over him.

"Late night was it? Well I'm gonna have to ask you to move. Maybe next time you should cut back on the booze."

Loki cast his gaze over this man who had the nerve to tell him what he should do. On noticing the word 'Police' emblazoned on his chest his half formed plans of retaliation faded. He did not particularly feel like attracting official attention and he knew he was in no position to teach this mortal some manners. Instead he opted to try and gain some much needed information on his whereabouts.

"Where am I?" he croaked, his voice far weaker than he had anticipated. It was not so subtle or astute as question as he would have liked to have asked, but it was all his brain had supplied him with.

The officer chuckled. "Royal Stuart Lane." Loki looked at him blankly. "Just off James Street, 'bout ten minutes from the Wales Millennium Centre."

This meant nothing to Loki, which obviously showed on his face as the officer rolled his eyes.

"Blimey! How much did you have?"

Loki attempted a sort of sheepish grin in an effort to placate this inquisitive mortal but he had a feeling that his face hadn't quite complied.

"Alright then, you're in Cardiff, Wales, Britain, Europe, Earth. Can't get much more general than that. Now you gonna get a move on or am I gonna have to take you down the station?" His eyes narrowed with suspicion as he took in Loki's appearance.

Loki decided it was probably time to make a move before the cogs in this dull man's brain finally started to turn. He had no doubt that the events of his attack on New York had been widely publicised and he didn't wish for anyone to recognise him. The last thing he needed was those imbeciles from S.H.E.I.L.D. breathing down his neck, especially when he was in such a vulnerable state.

o

It was exactly three hours and four minutes since Efanna had left her home before she was finally able to park in Cardiff. There'd been a minor accident on the motorway which had held her up and she'd had trouble finding a parking space that she thought was reasonably near where she needed to be in this city she didn't know. She now had twenty minutes to try and figure out where she was, where she needed to be, and actually get there.

She scrambled out of her Land Rover, at the last minute spotting a scarf thrown across her backseats and grabbing it. Although it wasn't really that cold she wound it around her neck as she locked the car. Somehow she had a feeling Loki might lash out and she wanted to make sure as much of her skin was covered as possible in case he did. From what she'd Seen he appeared to have a habit of grabbing people by the throat, so a scarf seemed like a good idea.

She started out in what she hoped was the right direction, her eyes darting around for a map or any sort of landmark she might be able to recognise. She knew the Wales Millennium Centre for example, and had seen its great copper roof in her Vision, so that was the way she needed to be heading. She just needed to find out exactly which way that _was_.

It was 14:43 when she finally saw the coppery glint in the distance and rushed towards it at a run, deftly weaving in and out of the people who were milling about. She'd gotten lost several times, walking down one particular street four times before she'd managed to pluck up the courage to ask someone for directions. This was Cardiff on a quiet day, but to Efanna's mind there were far too many people and they were far too close. She knew her skin was covered and was fairly sure no one was going to touch her face, but the crowds still made her anxious.

When she was close enough to read the massive bilingual inscription on the roof she stopped and scanned the space before her. Suddenly she hoped that her Vision had been wrong, although she knew in her heart that that was not the case. She didn't know what she was going to do once she found Loki, her Vision had only shown the finding, not what happened next. She sucked in the bottom corner of her lip and wrung her hands as her keen eyes jumped from face to face. This would be the first time she had actually _met_ anyone new and she had no idea what she was supposed to do. Sure, she'd _Seen_ herself meeting people before, but that was one hell of a different thing to actually _doing_ it. It didn't help that the man she was going to meet was arguably insane, with a God complex and a burning desire to conquer her planet and enslave its people.

_Or maybe it does_, she thought as she wondered between passers-by, eyes still searching, _I doubt that's something anyone else would be able to prepare themselves for. Besides, he's going to hate me anyway, no matter how socially incompetent I am._

It was when she was wondering exactly how she was going to convince him to leave Cardiff that she finally saw him. She glanced at her watch and yep, it had just flicked over to 14:47. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck raise as the strange sensation of living out something she had Seen washed over her, like déjà vu but more … _certain_. It wasn't the first time it had happened of course, but it wasn't really something one could get used to.

He was standing against the railings at the edge of the bay, looking out over the water. She could only see the back of his head but there could be no doubt that this was Loki. Just as in her Vision, all her senses seemed to zoom in on him until she could barely hear the screeching of the gulls or the idle chatter of the people around her. He was more plainly dressed than when she had Seen him before; gone was the long leather coat, the green and gold embellished armour and that ridiculous horned helmet. He simply wore a pair of black leather trousers and a long sleeved t-shirt of what looked like hand-woven, dark green cotton. Efanna supposed this was what he wore underneath all that ceremonial dress. _It would make sense for that to be removed when Odin banished him, like when he banished Thor,_ she thought as her Vision from the morning suddenly clicked into place.

Her body seemed to go into auto-pilot, as though knowing what was expected of it, it simply acted without need of conscious direction. She felt herself walking towards him and bit her lip harder, still trying to figure out what on Earth she was supposed to do when she got there. Strangely however, when he turned his head and fixed his piercing green eyes on hers, she felt strangely calm.

o

Several hours after his rude awakening, Loki was wondering around the city, having mostly recovered from the effects of his enforced travel from Asgard. He now had some idea of where he was; his knowledge of Earth geography was somewhat limited as he had never considered it a subject worth his attention. He was relieved to find he was some distance from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s area of operation. Having become accustomed to his new form he was painfully aware how unable he would be to defend himself against those accursed _'Avengers'_. This mortal body chafed at him and his anger at Odin grew with every step. The one thing he consoled himself with was that the All-Father could not constrain or reduce his mental capacity, only suppress what he could use it for. To have to suffer the indignity of living in a mortal body was one thing, to have to live within a mortal mind would be insufferable.

Already his agile mind was planning and scheming, trying to find some way that he could turn his circumstances to his advantage, some way to gain the revenge he so desperately desired and deserved. He may not have his magic or his ability to alter or control minds, but he still had his intelligence and charm. His silver tongue had never been entirely magical and he could still use it to some extent in this form. It was now a matter of deciding on whom.

He leant back against the railings behind him, staring at the large building in the distance as he thought. Its copper plated roof reminded him of the gleaming halls of Asgard and its presence here, in this mortal city irritated him. He wanted nothing more than to turn it to a pile of rubble and dust, to vent his anger and raze this whole pathetic city to the ground. What right did any others have for beauty if to him it was denied?

With a sigh he tore his gaze from the aggravating sight and turned to contemplate the waters of the bay instead. He must push these thoughts from his mind if he were to succeed in any of his plans. After all he had no money, no home, nothing but the clothes on his back, and even they were inadequate in his eyes. He had not eaten since his arrival and this wretched mortal form he was trapped in was growing weary. Whatever he might plan for the future, he would have to start with the very basics of survival.

His best bet, he supposed, was to find some impressionable young woman and seduce her, perhaps playing the part of a helpless traveller, lost and robbed. Such pity that would induce, alongside his charm and good looks, made him confident he could quite easily manipulate such a weak-willed female into giving him, at the very least, sufficient food, new clothes and a place to stay for the night. Such a plan was in his eyes contemptible, but he would do what he must in order to achieve his goal, even if it meant bedding so loathsome a creature. After the first night he would chose his prey more carefully and gather about him money, influence and authority. Once he had the power that was rightfully his, he could return and ensure these whores with whom he must defile himself knew their proper place. They would kneel before him and suffer for the degradation he must put himself though.

Such a notion encouraged him and, smirking, he turned back to the crowds to hunt his prey. He was somewhat amused to find he had a volunteer; a girl who looked to be in her early twenties was walking directly towards him. He let his eyes drift over her, assessing her. Circumstance might force him to bed a mortal but he had not completely abandoned his standards. She had reddish-orange hair which fell in loose, wild curls to her waist and clashed slightly with the purple hoodie she wore. Her figure was slim, but not skinny; although her hoodie was fairly baggy, Loki could see the outline of her curves and her tight-fitting jeans showcased her hips, suggesting a suitable hourglass figure. He was taller than her, but not so much that he towered above her, he guessed the top of her head would be roughly level with his chin. He wouldn't have called her beautiful but her face was pleasant enough, even if there was nothing remarkable about her slightly pointed nose or the lips she appeared to be biting anxiously.

She was mildly attractive, he decided, not enough to tempt him, but sufficiently so as to be his first victim. His thoughts changed however when he noticed her eyes. It was not only the colour that disturbed him, for he had never seen any woman, Asgardian or otherwise, with such pale eyes; but the fact that she met his gaze with no hesitation, no question or nervousness. Indeed as their eyes met a calm seemed to come over her and she looked at him with recognition, even familiarity. As he watched, her posture straightened and the hands she had been wringing fell to get sides, although he noted that she was still biting her lip. She smiled slightly and her pace quickened until she was stood right in front of him, her white eyes still fixed on his.

"Hello, Loki," she said, her voice soft and light.

He reacted the minute she said his name. His arm shot out and his fingers curled around her throat. He span her around, forcing her against the railings and pushing her backwards, leaning over her to make sure she couldn't escape. Although his strength was significantly reduced, it was still enough for him to handle one mortal girl.

"Who are you and how do you know me?" he growled, his fingers tightening.

Disconcertingly she didn't look the least bit frightened and simply stared straight into his eyes. He increased his grip again and was gratified when her hands reached up to his and tried to prise his fingers away.

"Loki…! I can't … breathe!" she gasped, although there was still no fear in her voice.

Grudgingly Loki relaxed his grip a little, aware that he was in too public a place to kill her. Something she apparently seemed to agree with.

"You know, if you're going to strangle me, you might want to do it somewhere out of sight," she said with a little smile, almost as if she were teasing him.

He growled again and tightened his fingers once more, leaving only just enough room for a small trickle of air to pass through to her lungs. He was annoyed however when all this elicited was another small smile.

"You can strangle me all you like, and I'll even tell you what you want to know – although that will be easier if you _don't_ strangle me," she said, quite calmly, if a little breathlessly, "Just let's go somewhere out of sight please? There are too many people here and I don't really want to cause a scene…"

She glanced behind his shoulder, although it seemed that no one had yet noticed his assault. Loki glared down at her, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. Surely no mortal was truly this stupid. There must be something unusual behind those pale eyes of hers, which only made it more important for him to find out who and what she was. Reluctantly he agreed she was right however, this was no place for him to force answers out of her. He removed his hand from her neck and instead grabbed her arm and pulled her along, searching for somewhere he could continue his interrogation in peace. After a minute or two he came across a small alley behind an alehouse and threw her against the wall, his hand once more around her throat.

"Again with the strangling…" she muttered.

He growled again, his temper rising. He pressed himself against her so that his face was mere inches from hers. His fingers tightened and he smirked as her small hands once more reached up to grip at his.

"Tell me who you are," he commanded.

"My name's … Efanna…" she gasped, her voice hoarse, "And it really would … be easier to speak … if you stopped … strangling me…!"

"How do you know me?" he asked. His tone was just as harsh but he relaxed his fingers a little in order to let her breathe.

"There are … a lot of things I know," she answered, trying to get her breath back but smiling wryly.

"That's not a very helpful answer."

"I know."

Again she smiled and again Loki's anger rose.

"Who do you work for?"

"No one."

"Who knows I'm here?"

"No one. Well, except me."

"Are you working with S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"No."

Loki let his green eyes bore into her white ones. Even without his magic he was still talented at reading people. He still knew when others were lying to him. This girl … Efanna, wasn't. Gradually he released his grip and stood back. She slid down the wall slowly, her hands massaging her neck under the scarf she wore. If she wasn't working with S.H.I.E.L.D., or any other organisation she couldn't cause him much trouble. He might even be able to use her to his advantage. There was still the question of how she had known about him though, and so he made sure to block her escape route. It was possible S.H.I.E.L.D. had named him publically and she had recognised him, but somehow he thought that unlikely.

"Tell me how you know who I am," he demanded.

She simply smiled. "And if I say no?"

Loki felt the corner of his mouth lift in a smirk as he crouched down so that his eyes were level with hers.

"I'll make you wish you hadn't."

She stared at him for a long while. He didn't think her eyes had left his more than once since he had first spotted her.

"Maybe."

He quirked his eyebrow. For such a small and pathetic creature she certainly had a lot of courage. He had to admit that she intrigued him.

"Maybe you'll wish that you hadn't, or maybe I'll make you?"

"Maybe both."

Suddenly, that ever present smile around her lips seemed to waver slightly.

"I know more about you than you could possibly imagine, Loki," she admitted slowly. Her eyes seemed to cloud and a hint of unhappiness had crept into her voice.

"I am also the only person in this world who will treat you with any kindness."

Loki scowled and stood up, towering over her.

"And what need do I have of your _kindness_?" he spat.

"More need than you realise," she said, also standing, "And far more than you will admit."

He glared at her, temper rising once more.

"How dare you think to pass such judgement?" he said, his voice rising with his anger, "You are beneath me, mortal!"

"Only because you're standing up and you're so tall," she replied with another smile, in a sickeningly light-hearted tone. As if to illustrate the fact she reached up on her toes to make herself as tall as possible; she still only reached his nose.

"If you sat down then _you'd_ be beneath _me_. And besides," she added, rocking back onto her heels, "You too are mortal, are you not? Or has Odin not banished you yet?" Her head tilted to the side, questioningly.

This was too much for Loki's temper and he lashed out, swinging a vicious right hook that would have connected sharply with Efanna's jaw had she not quickly ducked and deftly spun away from him.

"That wasn't very nice," she commented calmly from where she now stood, slightly crouched and catlike, obviously anticipating another blow.

"What did you expect?" he asked sarcastically.

"Fair point."

She shrugged, but did not lower her guard. Obviously she had some skill in combat and Loki didn't particularly want to test the limits of his mortal body yet, not when he was so fatigued and in need of sustenance.

"How did you come to know of my … circumstances?" he demanded, opting instead to continue his questioning.

"I told you, Loki, there are a lot of things that I know."

"That doesn't answer my question," he pointed out.

"Did you really expect it to?" she retorted, an eyebrow raised and a sly smile once again playing around her lips.

The reversal of his own statement was not lost on Loki. This girl was far sharper than he had expected. Grudgingly he found his anger being replaced by intrigue. He calmed himself and brought his hands to his sides, deciding to find out more about this strange mortal. Efanna watched him with her head once again cocked to one side, her eyes seeming to notice every shift in his expression and poise. Almost as soon as he had lowered his hands, she relaxed and returned to his side. Her gaze wondered over his face, her expression calculating. Loki let her assess him, interested in what she would do next, his anger momentarily dissipated.

"You hungry?" she asked suddenly.

Loki's eyebrow raised once more. Her tone was casual, as though they were old friends meeting for a drink. Neither her voice or her posture suggested that mere minutes ago he had been attacking her.

"Come on, I'll give you some money and you can get us some food," she said, walking past him and onto the street.

"Why do _I_ have to get the food?" he questioned as he followed her, deciding to play along for the moment and secretly glad for the offer.

"If I'm paying it's only fair that you do the fetching," she said as she dug around in her pockets and passed him a ten pound note. "Just don't traumatise the person who serves you, okay? And I want change!"

He looked down at her with a smirk as he accepted the money, though he could tell she wasn't telling him the real reason.

"I promise," he said, with mock sincerity.

She laughed lightly, surprising Loki a little. Not that he would admit it, but he was actually fairly amused by this mortal.

"So where would you suggest?" he continued, deciding that turning on his charm might be in his favour; his original plan could still be adapted to this current situation. They were now back in the open and passing the doors of cafés and deli bars.

"Um, that place?" she said, pointing to a take-away panini stand by the water. Loki smirked at the uncertainty in her voice.

"And what would you like?" he asked, his tone a little overly extravagant.

"Um, I dunno, just something. Whatever. I'm good."

There was a small crowd around the stall and she seemed reluctant to go any further. Once more Loki's eyebrow raised as he considered her.

"Very well, 'just something'."

He turned and walked towards the stall but before he had gone more than five steps he heard a thud behind him. Turning around he saw Efanna in a heap on the floor. She raised her head and he looked at her questioningly.

"I fell over," she explained.

"Whilst standing still?" His voice was sceptical and a little amused.

"It takes great skill," she informed him earnestly. "I'll be waiting on that bench over there."

"As long as you don't fall over again."

"As long as I don't fall over again," she agreed with a smile as she pushed herself to her feet, "Now hurry up, I'm hungry!"

Ten minutes later Loki and Efanna sat at opposite ends of the bench, finishing their respective meals. Normally Loki wouldn't have tolerated being ordered around, but given their current situation he had given Efanna a special dispensation. They had eaten in silence but now they had finished Efanna turned to him.

"We'll have to get going soon," she said, looking at her watch.

"And where would we be going?"

"Home," she said simply.

"What makes you think I'll go with you?" he asked, allowing an edge to creep back into his voice.

"Well for starters you don't have anywhere else _to_ go," she pointed out. "But it doesn't really matter because whether you like it or not, you're going to come with me, Loki. It's just something that will Happen."

Loki glared at her, his eyes hardening, but the look she returned him was cool.

"I could always threaten to call S.H.E.I.L.D. if you need an incentive?"

His eyes narrowed. "I thought you said you weren't working for them."

"I'm not," she shrugged, "But I know how to contact them if I need to."

Loki felt his temper rising once more. He let out a low growl and had to restrain himself from attacking her again. But the gaze Efanna levelled at him quite clearly stated that she knew things were going to turn out her way.

"Well, are you coming?" she asked, standing up and beginning to walk away. With a growl of frustration, Loki followed her.

* * *

**So, what d'you think? Please let me know and tell me if there's anything you think I could improve! I get stupidly excited by reviews :P**


	3. Home Sweet Home

**Thank you to all those who have read this and _JannaKalderdash_ and _on-stolen-time_ for reviewing! A particular thanks to _on-stolen-time_ as I couldn't PM you – I'm thrilled you think my characterisation is good, Loki's so hard to write and I was worried I was doing him wrong!**

This is another long one, and was kinda tricky to write, but I hope I did okay. It's fairly Efanna centric as we already know Loki so well. Both characters have such extreme and rapid mood swings I'm having trouble keeping up with them!

**Disclaimer:** In this chapter I reference 'The Penguin of Death' which I do not own. This is a book/poem by Edward Monkton, and if you haven't already read it you should go do so because it is bizarre and wonderful. You can actually buy the t-shirt I describe and I've got a mug with the same thing on it ^_^

o

Notes for this chapter:

'Mam' is the Welsh (and other accents) version of the general British 'Mum' or the American 'Mom'

I had to go back and change the flowers from chapter one as I realised that daffs aren't in season in September!

The necklace Efanna wears is the symbol from the story cover.

o

**Chapter Three:**

**Home Sweet Home**

* * *

The journey home was an awkward one. Loki sat in stony silence radiating hostility, but Efanna saw this as a blessing. She was never particularly comfortable with driving, not knowing when she might have another Vision and so welcomed the lack of distraction. Although, whatever power caused them appeared to connect in some way to her own survival instinct and her Visions never seemed to put her in life-threatening situations.

_At least not while _having_ them_, she thought gingerly feeling her neck and thanking the Gods she'd thought to put on the scarf.

Nevertheless she generally felt it was safer not to drive unless she really _had_ to, just in case. Her mother had taught her long ago in the fields where they kept the sheep, and she'd learnt well enough from Visions of herself and others driving, both before and after she first sat behind the wheel, but she didn't actually have a licence. At first she had worried about this, but throughout her life no one had ever really noticed her unless she specifically drew their attention, something that was particularly useful given her unique situation. Her mother had always impressed upon her the importance of keeping this anonymity, something she agreed with instinctively.

The long drive was uneventful. Loki stubbornly kept his silence and Efanna didn't bother to break it. After about an hour he drifted into sleep, not waking up even on the bumpy, winding lanes through the valleys towards her small farm. It had just turned 18:15 when she finally pulled up into the muddy courtyard between her small cottage and the three, fairly small stone barns. The sun was just beginning to set, not this was particularly evident as the hills in which her farm was located were enveloped in heavy cloud, which was currently depositing its contents with considerable ferocity. To simply say that it was raining would have been an understatement.

Turning the engine off, Efanna turned to contemplate her sleeping passenger. He looked remarkably peaceful with his head leant back against the seat, a few strands of his black hair falling into his eyes. A mess of emotions surged through her as she watched him. She had known this man all her life; grown up with Visions of him; Seen his childhood, his maturing, his shattering decent into darkness. What's more, her Visions went beyond simply seeing. She felt every emotion of those she Saw, knew every thought as if it were her own. She didn't merely watch the things her Visions showed her, but _experienced_ them, in every joyful, painful, heart-wrenching way.

She didn't understand why, but her Visions had always focussed on a specific set of people, whom she now knew to be 'The Avengers' and certain others who were associated with them, such as Loki. Throughout the course of her almost-twenty-two years it felt as if she had spent more time living their lives through her Visions than she had living her own. She had always assumed they would somehow be important to the course of her life, (after all why else would she have been forced to spend so much time watching their lives?) but now that one actually sat before her she had no idea how to react. What do you do when you meet for the first time someone you know so intimately, and yet doesn't know you at all? She was finding it difficult to believe this was actually _happening_, right now and to _her_, rather than it just being something else she was Seeing, as the rest of her life had been.

She reached over and poked him gently in the shoulder, half to wake him up, half simply to feel that he was really _there_. His reaction was fast, although not quite as fast as she might have expected; he reached around, grabbed her wrist and jerked her slightly towards him, his eyes blazing as they snapped open.

"We're here," she informed him, gently wriggling her hand to try and keep up the blood circulation to her fingers. "It'd be nice if you could let go of me now, I need to get the chickens in."

His eyes had softened marginally when he had seen her and he dropped her hand, turning instead to peer out of the windows and through the rain. His eyebrows raised slightly and Efanna couldn't tell whether he was more dismayed at the rude nature of his new dwellings or surprised at the sheer volume of water currently suspended in the air. More probably the latter considering how little of her cottage could actually be seen through the downpour.

"Stay here for a minute," she said, glancing over the thin fabric of his shirt, "I'll sort the hens out then come back for you. No point in you getting completely soaked."

He looked at her with a flat gaze, quite clearly stating that he was unimpressed with the situation. Efanna decided a grin would annoy him least (or most) and so smiled sweetly before turning to get out.

"Oh, and don't think about running off anywhere," she added, "It's five miles to the nearest village and you'll end up with hypothermia long before you get there, dressed like that."

She smiled again before hopping out and walking over to the smallest of the three barns. It wasn't a big courtyard but she was thoroughly sodden by the time she got there. Not that she bothered rushing. She was Welsh, and well used to being wet. At the door to the barn she looked back to see Loki watching her moodily from the passenger seat, just as she had Seen when she'd collapsed in Cardiff.

It didn't take her long to get the hens sorted, busying herself with domesticity to calm her racing mind. She had discovered that chickens didn't particularly like being outside during horizontal rain, sleet and snow, and so had built the 6 foot high fence of their large run up against her smallest barn and added a 'chicken flap' to the back door so they could come and go as they chose. She'd also found that foxes and other predators were as yet incapable of unlocking the wooden doors or burrowing under the old stone walls and so hadn't lost a hen yet. This evening, when she went to shut them up for the night she found all seven of them already inside the barn, huddled up to bales of hay or already nesting in their coops. Sensible birds. She quickly closed and bolted the 'chicken flap' and returned to the courtyard, locking the barn behind her and bounding back over to the Land Rover.

The only problem about the hens being so quick to sort out was that she hadn't had so long to consider how much she should allow Loki to find out about her Visions and the amount she knew of his past. It was something she felt rather guilty about. Many of the things she had Seen had been intensely personal, and she knew that a lot of of them were things that he chose to keep secret. She didn't want to make him hate her even more than he already did by revealing that she knew things about him that he would barely even admit to himself.

She was still pondering this question as she tapped on his window and darted over to unlock the door to her cottage. Once he was safely inside she turned and whistled for Pip, her blue marl Border Collie, who promptly came tearing in from where he'd been sheltering from the rain in her biggest barn whilst she'd been out, tongue lolling and tail high. She didn't bother to lock the car. No one was going to hike at least five miles just to steal a twelve year old, mud covered Land Rover, and Loki couldn't drive.

The door from the courtyard opened into small lean-to which had been converted into a utility with slate floors and bare stone walls which were well able to cope with Pip's muddy paw prints and the vast amount of water he shook off his long, black-speckled, white and grey coat. Efanna decided to ignore the grumpy Asgardian for a moment, instead she peeled off her gloves and grabbed a towel to give Pip a proper hello. As she wove her now bare hands through his damp fur she felt a stream of memories wash over her, chasing a rabbit, guarding the sheep, sleeping in the hay; all the things he'd done since she'd last touched him. She threw the towel about him, leaving him to roll around in it and stripped off her sodden hoodie. She was also about to remove her damp t-shirt before she remembered that she wasn't alone.

She span around to face Loki with a small "Oh," and found him stood with his arms crossed, watching her with a cynical gaze. Even though he'd been less than a minute outside, his hair was dripping and the shoulders of his shirt were drenched. She froze for a moment, her brain still trying to catch up with the fact that this was actually _happening_, before she grabbed another towel from the worktop and chucked it at him, taking a third to dry her own sopping wet hair. He caught it deftly and they spent a long moment staring at each other before Pip broke the tension by placing his cold nose against Loki's hand. The Asgardian jumped slightly, making Efanna giggle, which earned her a long, cold stare.

"Pip, this is Loki," she introduced, "Loki, Pip. He's going to be staying with us for a while."

Loki gave the dog a brief glance before resuming his attempt to assail Efanna with his eyes. Pip's reaction was much more cordial; he cocked his head to one side, looked back to his master, and then jumped up to place his forepaws on Loki's stomach and demanded a fuss. Loki didn't look particularly impressed.

"Pip, get down and come here," Efanna scolded lightly, as she pulled her boots off. She grabbed his discarded towel from the floor and wiped his paws with it.

"You may as well take that off," she told Loki, casting her eyes over his now muddy, as well as wet shirt, "Leave it in the sink, I'll go see if I've got anything you can change into. Take your boots off, then you can go sit down."

Before he could argue she ducked past him and through the door into her kitchen, then ran upstairs before Loki could follow her. Once she was safely within her room she slid down the back of the door and let the full extent of the situation was over her.

She'd just brought home the being who had been the inspiration for the Norse God of Mischief and Lies.

For the first time in ten and a half years she was going to be sharing her home with a creature who didn't walk on four legs and could talk.

He'd _touched_ her. Okay, so it was more attacked, and thankfully it hadn't been skin-to-skin, but it was still physical contact.

She didn't have any men's clothes.

_Actually that last part isn't true_, she thought, shaking herself out of her shocked stupor. Living on her own, comfort was Efanna's main concern when it came to nightwear and overly large men's t-shirts and boxer shorts were, in her opinion, about as comfy as you could get. Somehow she couldn't really see Loki accepting to wear any of those though. When she'd rushed out of the house this morning she hadn't really thought of the consequences of what she was doing. Now she was starting to realise just how much they were going to change her life.

o

Loki watched Efanna dart past him, unsure as to whether he found this strange mortal more annoying or amusing. The way her emotions and behaviour seemed to flit constantly from confident and overly friendly to shy and almost terrified and back again was certainly entertaining to watch. She seemed lost somehow, almost like a child. The way she dared to order him around, however, and ignored him, even going so far as to talk to her _dog_ over him, irritated him intensely.

The animal in question was currently sat looking up at him with eyes as white as his owner's. He had the same wolfish appearance of Asgardian dogs, but was far smaller and his features were more friendly. The animal watched Loki for a moment, his eyes holding a surprising intelligence, before turning and following his master's route through the door and into the house proper.

Loki sighed as he looked around at the crude dwelling. The rough stone walls were a far cry from the gleaming halls of Asgard, but at least they were shelter from the truly abysmal weather outside. He could feel the chill of the water seeping into his shoulders and decided to comply with Efanna's suggestion, even though he was loath to swap even these most basic of Asgardian garments for mortal ones. He peeled off his shirt, depositing it in the white ceramic basin and proceeded to remove his boots as requested before moving to explore the rest of his new 'home'.

There was a small step up into what appeared to be a kitchen by what little light shone through the windows. Using his knowledge of Midgardian architecture, Loki searched the walls around him for the small switch that created light. Pressing it revealed the kitchen to be fairly small with stone surfaced, wooden cabinets following two of the walls and a large iron oven and stove to his right. Filling the corner of the room to his left was an old wooden table on which was placed a variety of crockery, some clean, some used, and a jug sporting about a dozen pale purple flowers. Behind the table, against the wall there was a high backed wooden bench and clustered on the nearer side were several mismatched chairs. The low ceiling was beamed and the walls now plastered and painted a deep red colour. Opposite him, on the far wall was a heavy wooden door and a window over the counters which showed a view of the rain. In the wall to the left of this door was another, smaller and partially open.

Seeing as neither human, nor beast were in the kitchen Loki headed for this door, cursing the cold stone beneath his feet. The room beyond was small by Asgardian standards, with a staircase rising against the wall from his left and curving to protrude into the room as it reached the far corner. The wall opposite was dominated by a large fireplace, surrounded by logs. The wall to his left, beyond the stair, was filled with bookshelves, the one nearest him to his right with what appeared to be a large wooden-cased musical instrument. Beyond that, in the corner, Loki recognised the Midgardian entertainment system they called a television, and clustered around it and the fire was a large, squashy looking sofa and a couple of armchairs. A thick rug of deep plum sat upon the cold stone floor between these seats, mirroring the colour of the walls and on top of it was curled Efanna's dog. There was a window on the wall to his right, but no other doors. Loki assumed then, that this was the extent of the living space, as there could be little above them but sleeping quarters. The whole building would have fitted easily within the merest of bed chambers in the Palace of Asgard.

But, as Loki reminded himself as he sank onto the sofa, it was still far more comfortable than the cell he had been occupying in the deepest vaults of Asgard for the past few months; and infinitely superior to the caves and hovels he had been forced to live in during his previous exile. It would certainly prove adequate until he figured out what he was going to do with his curious new host.

On thinking of Efanna, Loki spread himself out on the sofa, ensuring he would be easily seen by her as she descended the stairs. Whilst it was true that he did not yet know what to make of her, she was still mortal and still female. His first plan of seduction could still prove useful and it seemed obvious to make use of his current state of undress. Whilst waiting for her to arrive he carefully schooled his thoughts and appearance, bringing about him the facade of a charming, witty, but essentially harmless mortal. For the moment he firmly set aside his questions and irritations about her nature; once he had won her trust and affections he could quite easily extract from her the information he desired. And he could not deny that he enjoyed playing these games. Mortals were so easy to manipulate. It only took a few words, gestures, looks, and he could influence their thoughts, their feelings, their actions. To have such power with so little effort. To be able to make someone trust him completely and then destroy their soul. It was a pursuit he thoroughly enjoyed. He would gently wrap his hand around Efanna's heart and then, when she was at her most vulnerable, crush it.

These delightful contemplations were interrupted by soft footfalls on the stairs. Loki turned his head to watch Efanna descend, now dressed in a long, slim fitting, v-necked top, an overly large cardigan, skin-tight leggings and an mismatched pair of bulky, neon coloured socks. Around her neck he noticed a silver pendant in the shape of a triple spiral. In one hand she carried a towel wrapped bundle, in the other a small amount of black material. Her eyes seemed thoughtful as they met his, but she smiled nonetheless. Loki returned her smile and stood up to meet her, enjoying being able to look down upon her, even if the top his head did graze the beams of the low ceiling. She cast her eyes over his bare chest, but Loki was unable to fathom the emotion behind them.

"Here," she said, tossing the black material at him, "This should fit you. Think of it as a 'welcome to Earth' present, I thought it was appropriate."

He caught the cloth and opened it to find it was a black t-shirt with a design printed on the front – a captioned cartoon drawing of some sort of bird.

"'The Penguin of Death'?" he questioned, one eyebrow raising. Efanna's smile grew.

"Strangely attractive because of his enigmatic smile and able to kill you in any one of four hundred and twelve ways; remind you of anyone?" she said with a hint of teasing in her voice.

Loki's eyes narrowed as she once again revealed how much she knew of his true nature. Pushing these thoughts aside he reminded himself that he was trying to charm her, not interrogate her – yet.

"You think me attractive?" he questioned, moving close to her, still holding the shirt rather than putting it on. The corner of his mouth curled up as Efanna backed up, keeping her distance, like a timid animal. Once at a safe distance she tilted her head and cast her eyes over him again.

"I suppose so. I never really thought about it that way before," she answered, a little hesitant. "I'm afraid I've not got much more in the way of clothes though. The other guys t-shirts I have would all be too big for you and I can't imagine you consenting to wear them. I don't have any trousers, but you could borrow some boxers if you wanted to change your underwear I suppose." Her ramble tailed off and she looked at him for a long while. Loki steadily held her gaze, trying to determine what was happening behind her white eyes.

"I guess I'll have to buy you some clothes if you're going to stay," she said finally. She looked conflicted, nervous, almost reluctant. Her eyes seemed to stare beyond Loki and into the unknown. He took another step towards her, wanting to take advantage of this sudden weakness to assert his own dominance. This seemed to snap her out of her trance and she smiled brightly at him.

"I'll get the laptop out after dinner," she said, skipping back from him and over to the door to the kitchen. "Put that on and come and help."

Annoyance flickered over Loki's face, partly at her escape, partly at being forced to work. He stared after her, contemplating the information she had given him, before shrugging on the t-shirt and following her.

Fifteen minutes later they sat at the table in the kitchen eating a stew that Efanna had reheated from the previous night. The food was simple, nothing compared to Loki's standards, but he could find no real fault in it. Efanna had cheerfully ordered him around her kitchen, asking him to fetch things and lay the table, but Loki had detected a hesitant undertone in her words and actions. As the two ate they watched each other with careful, guarded eyes. Loki was starting to become unnerved by the way she was constantly watching him, almost as though she was seeing right through to his very heart. He was the only one who should be able to look at another like that. In an attempt to switch the balance of power back to him, he decided it was time for some gentle probing into the thoughts behind those elusive white eyes.

"This is quite delicious, Efanna," he said with his most charming smile. Efanna merely raised an eyebrow at him.

"Liar."

There was no hint of accusation or offence in her voice, she simply stated it as though it was a fact. Which it was. Loki was momentarily perturbed, but quickly changed tactics.

"So when am I going to meet your boyfriend?" he asked smoothly.

"Boyfriend?" she asked, looking utterly baffled.

"I assumed that was why you had men's undergarments?"

"Oh," she replied, looking as if this had never occurred to her. "No. Boxers are just comfy."

"So you don't have a boyfriend then?"

"Of course not."

Her tone was incredulous. Loki wondered why, she was fairly attractive for a mortal, it wasn't so unthought-of that she might have a suitor, unless…

"Girlfriend?" he questioned.

"No…" The look she gave him quite clearly wondered why he was asking such things.

"Just curious," he said, "I thought that if I am to be staying with you, I should know with whom else I may be sharing this house."

She stared at him for a long moment, her eyes looking almost sad.

"No one," she said quietly, "It's just me and Pip."

Loki was taken aback by the loneliness in her voice. Before he could think much of it though she smiled brightly and stood up, taking her plate to the sink.

"Right, you want to wash or dry?"

"What?" he asked, his voice flat.

"This isn't Asgard, Loki, you don't have any servants here."

His eyes narrowed at the mention of Asgard, annoyance at being told to wash the dishes forgotten. How could such a mortal know of the Realm Eternal? Just as she had known his name, his true identity. His temper flipped and he followed her to the counter, pressing her up against it. She squirmed slightly, craning her head back from his and holding her hands behind her back, away from his. From the corner her dog growled at him in warning but Loki paid him no heed.

"How do you know of Asgard?" he demanded in a low voice.

"So we're going to go through this again are we?" she asked, her voice level but her eyes betrayed an uncertainty she hadn't shown earlier, in the city.

"We wouldn't have to if you simply told me."

Efanna looked at him for a long while, her pale eyes staring unblinkingly into his. A dozen emotions flickered through them, too fast for Loki to define. Finally she seemed to come to a decision and she took a deep breath, letting it out almost as a sigh.

"I know," she said with a small smile, "But still, I'll give you the same answer: there are a lot of things that I know, Loki. That's all I shall tell you. For now."

Loki's temper flared. How dare this insolent mortal think to keep secrets from him? He, the Master, the God, of secrets and lies! He gritted his teeth, his lips curled in a snarl as he bared down upon this pathetic creature.

"You going to hit me, Loki?" she interrupted, her voice strong and clear like a bell, "Strangle me? Punch me? Cut my skin?"

Her pale eyes held his, blazing as they challenged him. She didn't back down, didn't even blink. For how long they stood there, a battle raging between their eyes, Loki couldn't say. Eventually he turned from her with a growl of frustration and stormed out of the room.

"I guess we'll leave the washing up for tonight then," he heard her mutter as he left.

Loki threw himself into one of the chairs and sat there stewing in his anger, slowly letting it drain away. As his thoughts gradually became more coherent he realised that in losing his temper he had broken his promise to himself, to push aside his grievances with her until he had her sat in the palm of his hand. Was he really so weak that he could let a mere mortal aggravate him to such an extent? Who was this girl who not only knew so much, but who dared to challenge him?

He allowed his mind to flow back, examining every minute he had spent with her, every word she had spoken, every expression that had moved her features. The girl was strong, there was no doubt about that, in spirit and perhaps in body as well. But she had moments of such vulnerability that Loki was almost surprised that she hadn't fallen apart, like a repaired but once broken glass. Could it be that there was more to her than met the eye, that she was more than an ordinary mortal? Her knowledge, certainly, was unprecedented, but was there more beyond that? He had seen firsthand, and to his disadvantage, that these beings of Midgard were beginning to evolve. Could she perhaps be such a creature?

If so what use could she be in his plans for dominance, for power? If he could beguile her, if she could be persuaded to join his cause she could prove to be a powerful piece in this grand game of chess he was playing. Loki doubled his convictions. Now she might have some worth to him he would ensure that her heart was his. He would not again let her spark his temper, not until she was wholly within his control. And if she proved to be worthless? Then he would make the crushing of her heart all the more painful.

o

Efanna heard the creak of an armchair as Loki sat down heavily in the other room. Gradually she let out the breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. It was one thing to See Loki's temper, but to be on the receiving end of it in real life was quite another. She had known her choice to have him live with her would at times be difficult to follow through, but she hadn't expected just how intimidating he really could be. Slowly she sank to the floor, reliving his assault, letting his anger finally wash over her. She knew that he hated her. She had been quite prepared for that fact, but she hadn't realised just how much it would hurt.

She didn't blame him of course. After all, she understood him better than he even understood himself. But in ten and a half years she had never been as close to someone as she was to him now. She had never spent so much time with another person. She had never realised just how much she craved company. It hurt her to have to keep things from him, but she couldn't make him hate her even more than he already did. Not now. Not when she had only had the merest taste of what she had been missing all these years.

Pip padded over to her and licked her face, gently butting his head against hers. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his fur until he shuffled, asking to be let go. She smiled at him and leant her forehead against his before resting back into the counter behind her and closing her eyes, trying to calm her raging emotions. Pip laid down and put his head in her lap and she gently stroked his ears as she thought, taking comfort from his soft fur.

There was silence from the lounge and Efanna guessed that Loki was doing the same as her; calming his emotions, ordering his thoughts. She wondered what he thought of her, her peculiar behaviour and sayings. How much about her powers had she revealed to him? How long would she be able to keep her secret?

_There is mist in the valley, but the skies are clear where they stand. The morning sun crests the horizon and the valley full of cloud seems to light up as it swirls beneath them. Efanna turns to Loki, her bright hair fanning out behind her in the breeze as he holds her gaze. The air between them is so full of emotion that it's almost alive._

Pip's cold nose on her forehead opened her eyes. She'd slumped down to the floor with her Vision and he was looking at her inquisitively, checking up on her as always. She gave him a little smile to reassure him and gently stood up. Efanna put the Vision out of her mind. She had enough to deal with in the present for the moment. Slowly, she started gathering the dirty plates and pans, piling them in the sink as quietly as she could, not wanting to disturb Loki's thinking.

She gave Pip his dinner, checked on the laundry, wiped down the surfaces, straightened the cushions on the chairs. When finally she could think of nothing else to do (other than the washing up, which Loki was going to help with, whether he liked it or not) she pulled on her pair of black cotton gloves, wishing they were longer. It had been too close a call when Loki had pushed her against the counter. She would need to be more careful around him, it would only take the briefest of brushes of his skin on hers and she couldn't face Seeing what would come. But more importantly this was the one aspect of her powers she could control. She wouldn't invade Loki's privacy any more than she already had, not if she could help it.

Satisfied her skin was as covered as it could be she softly padded over to the door, Pip at her heels. Loki was sat in the chair facing the empty fireplace, completely still save for the gentle rise and fall of his chest. Efanna watched him, her eyes following what little of his features she could see. It felt strange to be actually seeing him, rather than _Seeing_ him. To actually have him physically here before her. After a couple of minutes he turned his head and his eyes met hers. They exchanged another of their long gazes, each knowing the other was trying to figure out what lay behind their eyes.

The silence stretched on and became awkward. Efanna shifted uncomfortably, feeling keenly her lack of social know how. When she finally decided that Loki wasn't going to break the silence she mustered her courage and her smile.

"I guess I should show you where you'll be staying?" She tried to make her voice light, but she knew she hadn't quite got it right.

He continued his scrutiny of her for a moment before politely inclining his head.

"Of course," he said, standing up to face her, his voice all warmth and charm, "After you."

He held his hand out and gave her a smile she was sure would melt most girl's hearts. Efanna wasn't fooled. Loki could charm the birds out of the trees, but not if you knew what he was doing.

She ducked past his hand and scampered up the stairs, onto the narrow landing. Three doors led off from it, one on her left and two on her right. She walked past the stairs towards the slanting roof and the second of the two doors to the right.

"That's the bathroom there," she said, pointing to the door at the far end of this wall, "And this is where you can stay."

Her hand lingered on the handle and with a deep breath she forced herself to open the door. The room beyond was fairly small, the roof slanting from halfway across and a double bed with its head at the lowest end of the room. There was a wardrobe in the far corner and a desk crammed in to her left. What little wall space there was left was covered in bookshelves full of dusty academic books and old scientific journals. The walls were painted a deep forest green and Efanna couldn't help but marvel at the irony that its previous occupant's favourite colour should be the same as its next. Everything was exactly as it had been ten and a half years ago. And now she was about to change it, just as she had changed the rest of her life that day.

"Efanna?"

She turned her head to see Loki watching her, his eyes far softer than she had seen them before. Slowly she reached up and wiped away the single tear that was tracing its way down her cheek. He looked at her quizzically as she stepped back to allow him into the room. He peered inside and she could see the distaste in his carefully schooled features.

"I like the colour," he said eventually, as if forcing himself to say something positive about it.

"Mam always used to say it reminded her of forests. It's probably a different reason to why you like it though."

Loki's eyes bored into hers, obviously questioning her current emotional state.

"It was her room," she said simply, knowing he would be unhappy if she didn't give him at least _some_ answers.

He looked as though he was going to question her further, but seemed to decide against it, much to Efanna's relief.

"I'll see you in the morning," she said, squeezing past him carefully and dashing back downstairs to turn the lights off and lock the door before he could ask any more questions. When she came back up he had already disappeared into his room.

* * *

**I hope that wasn't too long, and that I managed to keep up the interest! Please let me know! :D**


	4. An Agreement

**Thank you once again for my reviews and alerts! :D**

Slightly shorter one this time, enjoy!

**Chapter Four:**

**An Agreement**

* * *

_Tony Stark is lying back on a chair with wires attached to his skin projecting his heart rate onto monitors behind him. Pepper stands over him, her hands covered in goo. They look at each other, relief flooding through them. Suddenly Tony laughs._

"_Don't ever, ever, ever, _ever_ ask me to do anything like that ever again," Pepper tells him._

"_I- I don't have anyone but you," Tony admits, holding her gaze and suddenly feeling more vulnerable than he has ever felt before. The silence stretches on and he makes a face at her. Pepper doesn't know quite what to do with herself._

…

_Thor looks down at his helmet, his eyes suddenly betraying the nerves he feels. Loki watches him carefully._

"_Ooh, nice feathers," he teases. Thor laughs and looks up at him._

"_You don't really want to start this again do you, cow?" he asks, nodding his head towards the towering horns atop Loki's own helmet._

"_I was being sincere!" Loki protests._

"_You are incapable of sincerity," Thor retorts._

"_Am I?"_

"_Yes!"_

_The two smile slightly and look at each other for a long moment._

"_I've looked forward to this day as long as you have," Loki tells him, his voice now sincere with emotion, "You're my brother and my friend, and sometimes I'm envious. But never doubt that I love you."_

_Thor smiles and claps his hand to Loki's neck._

"_Thank you."_

"_Now give us a kiss," Loki teases._

"_Stop it!" Thor admonishes with a laugh. _

_They both grin and turn towards the grand stair, readying themselves for the ceremony as brothers._

…

_Clint lies strapped to a narrow cot, Natasha behind him pouring a drink. He looks up at her, eyes haunted and sweat beading on his forehead._

"_You know what it's like to be unmade," he tells her, his voice rough. Their eyes meet and an understanding charged with emotion passes between them._

"_You know that I do."_

…

_Loki and Efanna stand together above a valley filled with mist as the sun rises. Their eyes are locked together and for a long moment neither speaks._

…

Efanna slowly blinked open her eyes, the last remnants of her dreams falling away. It was rare for her to See whilst asleep, but often her subconscious brought back fragments of Visions she'd already had. She stretched out in her bed, looking over to her wall where the date and time were projected in slowly changing colours.

_It's 6:37 on Saturday 22__nd__ September 2012_, she thought, beginning her daily mantra to try and keep her sense of 'when' as accurate as possible. _I am currently lying in bed, at home. Yesterday was Friday 21__st__ September 2012, the Autumn Equinox. Yesterday I…_

Efanna suddenly shot up in bed, almost banging her head on the low, slanting ceiling.

_Yesterday I drove to Cardiff and brought home Loki of Asgard._

Efanna replayed the events of the day before in her mind. Had that really happened? But there they were, her memories as clear and sharp as ever, in far more detail and immeasurably more chronological than her Visions ever were.

"Oh," she muttered to herself under her breath. _Loki of Asgard is sleeping in my spare room_.

She spent several minutes simply staring into space as her reeling mind tried desperately to make sense of her situation. What do you do when you've invited a homicidal alien who's hell bent on enslaving your planet to live with you? Efanna thought about this for a minute, absently twirling one of her lose copper curls around one of her fingers. Then she shrugged.

_The same as I always do_, she said to herself, _If he doesn't like it, that's his problem_.

She dragged herself out of bed and pulled on some of the clothes scattered about her bedroom floor, nudging Pip with her foot to wake him. As she walked out onto the landing and down the stairs she had to suppress an urge to check up on Loki. There was no sign of him in the lounge or the kitchen, so she assumed he must still be asleep.

She grabbed a cereal bar from the kitchen before pulling on her wellies and setting out to sort out her normal morning farmyard jobs. As she stepped outside she inhaled that glorious fresh smell of a new morning after a storm. The sky seemed to have rained itself out and the new light of dawn was staining the sky a pale, steely blue before the arrival of the sun. She smiled as she went about her business, opening up the hen barn, doing a round of her fields and checking the sheep had everything they needed. She loved being up in the Welsh mountains and as she let her bare hands trail along the bushes, the trees, the rocks, she felt the sense of calm that only came from the Memories of the scenery here.

The sun had risen properly by the time she returned to the cottage, leaving Pip to wonder as he chose. It looked like it might even be a nice day. She went back upstairs to shower, once again having to stop herself from peering into her mother's old room to check up on her guest. Once she was clean and dressed again the temptation proved too great. If he had been in his true form she knew she would never be able to sneak up on him, but if she'd gotten her 'when's in the right order, Odin should have stripped him of his powers so that he was nothing more than a mortal like her. She was confident she'd be able to peek through his door without him waking up.

She crossed the landing on tip toes and opened his door cautiously, begging it not to squeak. She had a feeling he might strangle her again if he caught her nosing in on him and she'd had quite enough of that yesterday. There he was, actually, definitely _here_, black hair splayed out on the pillows, bare limbs tangled in the duvet. Efanna was glad he was properly covered, there were some things she really _wasn't_ prepared to see. After a couple of minutes taking in the strange sight that made it completely certain that she wasn't living alone any more, she slowly closed the door again and went back downstairs.

She wondered over to her mp3 player, hooked up to a pair of speakers by her TV. For a moment she wondered if she should try and be quiet so as not to wake Loki, but then she felt the bruises on her neck and decided to turn the volume up extra loud as payback. She set the device to shuffle and the Doctor Who theme tune blared out. Efanna had a very varied taste in music; on her mp3 player soundtrack albums sat next to indie rock, classical piano next to drum and bass, 80s pop beside 40s jazz. She smiled and began to dance about as she fired up her laptop and began to compile an online shopping list with the music rumbling though her feet. One of the benefits of living at least three miles from your nearest neighbour was that no one could complain if you played your music too loudly.

At least no one until now. Loki emerged down the stairs, looking slightly bleary eyed and bedraggled about halfway though one of her favourite songs, 'Stay Lucky' by The Gaslight Anthem. He looked as if he were about to speak but she held up her hand imperiously. No grumpy Asgardian was going to interrupt her mid-song.

o

Loki was roused from his sleep by a strange electronic melody that almost seemed to shake the whole house. After a minute or two the sound changed completely and Loki remembered where he was and realised Efanna must be playing what Midgardians considered music. Scowling at his rude awakening he heaved himself from the bed, dressing and trying to think of a way he could pay her back without losing his temper. He descended the stairs to a lively song with slightly throaty male vocals. He was about to request that Efanna turn it down but was pre-empted by her raising one hand, quite obviously demanding him to be silent. He angrily closed his mouth but his emotions soon changed to amusement as he watched her bounce about the room, limbs flailing wildly and head bopping from side to side. She sang along at the top of her voice, quite unconcerned when she wasn't quite in tune. Loki couldn't help but chuckle at such an enthusiastic performance.

Eventually the song drew to a close and she danced across the room to press a button on a small device. Silence suddenly fell.

"Am I allowed to talk now?" he asked, a smirk on his face and his voice fairly amused as he descended the final few steps. Efanna shrugged.

"Depends what you're gonna say," she replied, not looking embarrassed in the slightest that he had caught her behaving with such abandon.

"Did you feel it particularly necessary to wake me?" he asked.

"I'd been quiet up till then," she shrugged, "And seeing as you felt it so necessary to spend half of yesterday throttling me I thought I deserved some payback."

Loki was about to come back with a sharp retort when he noticed a faint pattern of bruises around her neck, at which point he conceded that she had some justification in what she did.

"I'm sorry about that," he said, walking forwards and reaching out his hand. If he was going to win her over he would have to at least pretend to apologise. Efanna, however skipped backwards, out of the way of his touch.

"I promise, I won't do it again," he said, trying to make his voice as gentle as possible.

"Don't make promises you can't keep," she told him, once again seeing through his lies. This one could prove a challenge.

She skipped into the kitchen and Loki followed to find her opening cupboards and peering at the contents.

"You want breakfast?" she asked.

"That would be much appreciated."

"Great," she smiled, "Cereal's in there, bowls are in the cupboard next to the sink, spoons in that draw." She pointed her directions, stooping down to look into the fridge. "Tell me how much I've got left will you? I'm doing the shopping."

"I thought on Midgard one normally had to leave one's home to do that?" Loki asked, deciding it would be simplest not to make a fuss and retrieving the items she described.

"That's the wonders of the internet for you!" she said cheerfully. He noticed that she made no reaction at all to the term 'Midgard'. "Never have to leave home again! We can order you some clothes after too. Once you've helped with the washing up," she added, a stern look in her eyes. Loki noticed the sink was still full of their dishes from the previous night. Part of her payback for his assaults, he guessed.

About an hour later they had done washing up, eaten and ordered a him suitable wardrobe. After a brief instruction in the use of her laptop, Loki was quite proficient and Efanna had helpfully pointed out those of her favourite websites that she thought he might be interested in. He had been pleased to find that not all Midgardian fashion was quite so alien to that of Asgard and had found, in particular, a long leather coat that was similar to the garb he would normally chose. Efanna's generosity in the matter had surprised him. He was after all a perfect stranger and she had had no qualms about spending her money on him. Or at least he was supposed to be, he thought to himself. He had his doubts on that particular matter.

"So, what do we do now?" he asked, leaning back and turning to regard the white eyes that never left his.

"Well I need to work, especially now I've got an extra mouth to feed," she answered, "You can do what you want; read, watch TV, internet; up to you. What did you usually do on Asgard?"

Loki's eyes narrowed. He had decided to ignore her strange knowledge for the moment, but how was he supposed to answer a question like that? He had no alternative. In order to know how to respond to such a question he had to know how much knowledge she possessed.

"How _do_ you know of Asgard?" he asked, leaning over the kitchen table towards her, "And what more do you know that you have not yet told me?"

"We're going to start this again then?" she questioned wearily.

"Do you get this information from S.H.E.I.L.D.?" he continued, ignoring her protests, "I can think of no other source for such knowledge."

"No," she answered, "I have obtained no information from S.H.E.I.L.D."

"And yet you threatened to call them? How am I know you're not lying?"

"Because you are the Master of Lies? Because I give you my word, which, by the way, has far greater meaning than yours?"

Loki's eyes bored into hers, unconvinced and aggravated by her further familiarity with him, but trying to keep his temper. His lip curled into a snarl slightly.

"Look, Loki, you're just going to have to trust me on this. I have no ties with S.H.E.I.L.D. and I never have," she said, "You're not the only one who wants to stay off their radar you know."

His eyebrow rose. This was interesting. What reason could she have for not wanting S.H.E.I.L.D. to know of her? Was it true then that she did possess some power?

"Even if I am to believe you, you still have not yet answered my question."

"Will you attack me again if I don't?" she asked coolly, one eyebrow raised.

"I believe I promised not to," he responded, but with the hint of a threat in his voice.

"No, you promised not to strangle me again," she stated, leaning back and keeping her eyes close on his, "And that's not a promise you were going to keep anyway."

Loki leant back too, mirroring her posture.

"You still haven't answered my question."

"You've not yet answered mine. My response depends on yours."

Efanna was sharp. She seemed to be able to see right through him and would not be so easy to mislead as he first thought. A slight change in tactics was in order.

"And if I did attack you? Would you then tell me what I wish to know?"

"No," she said with a small grin, "In fact it would probably only strengthen my resolve _not_ to tell you. I'm stubborn like that."

Loki couldn't help but smirk a little at her response. He had met few women this feisty. The last one had been a redhead too; indeed he had heard some mortal saying about the fiery nature of the breed. He decided a little honesty was permissible given the current situation.

"Then it depends how much you irritate me."

"Perhaps."

Efanna was grinning openly now and Loki was surprised to find he was enjoying their banter. There were so few people who could even come close to playing him at his own game; he had to admit he was a little impressed. Until this point she had skilfully evaded giving an answer, but Loki was determined this would not last for long. He sat up, using his full height to his advantage and leant across the table, spreading his arms to either side of her, caging her in.

"Tell me," he demanded, his voice low, but soft.

"… No," she said, slowly, "I don't think I can. Not yet."

Loki stood with a growl and banged his fist against the table but Efanna didn't flinch.

"I will tell you, Loki," she said, placatingly, "But not yet."

"Then when?"

"When you trust me."

That was not the answer he had been expecting. The other way around perhaps, when _she_ trusted _him_, but he had not anticipated her demanding _his_ trust.

"And how can I trust you if you keep secrets from me?" he asked, still towering over her. She looked up at him.

"You already suspect, I think, that there is something unusual about me," she responded, "I will tell you now that you are right. For the moment that knowledge will have to be enough. You must simply accept that there are things that I know which I have no right to."

Efanna held his gaze steadily, her neck craned back so that her eyes were level with his.

"You will have my secret eventually, Loki, I doubt anyone can keep something from you indefinitely," she said, her voice somehow sad, "Until then I promise that whatever information I may have, I shall not use against you in any way."

Her voice and eyes were both solemn, sincere. He very presence radiated honesty and Loki was forced to admit that he knew she would keep this promise. Gradually he stood back from her, grudgingly conceding.

"You _will_ tell me what I wish to know, Efanna," he told her.

"I know," she said with a smile, "But not now."

* * *

**As ever, let me know what you think! I will love you forever if you do! :P**


	5. Ten and a Half Years Ago

**As always massive thanks and love to everyone taking the time to read this, and especially those who have favourited, alerted and/or reviewed!**

o

**Chapter Five:**

**Ten and a Half Years Ago**

* * *

"Well," Efanna said cheerfully, jumping up, "I'm not getting anything done sat here, so if we're finished arguing I think I'll get on. You made a decision yet?"

Loki was silent for a moment as he tried to get his temper back under control. He pondered her question – what _was_ he supposed to do in this miserable corner of such an uninspiring realm?

"I'm interested to see what work it is that you do," he said eventually, deciding that the only thing of interest to him was Efanna herself, "Might I be able to accompany you?"

"Still trying to seduce me I see?" she noted quizzically, "I'm not sure that's really going to work you know."

Loki's temper flared again, how could she know _that_? What's more how dare she doubt his success? With an effort he calmed himself.

"I was merely trying to be cordial," he told her darkly, "Are manners not taught on Midgard? Would you rather I treated you as the worthless wretch that you are?"

The venom in his words surprised him, he had not meant to be that candid with her. It seemed this mortal had an inexplicable skill of getting under his skin.

"Treat me however you want, Loki," she replied calmly, "Although I will admit I would prefer it if you could _try_ and be nice, yes. I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't've said that, you're really doing very well you know. Well at least for _you_."

Surprisingly Efanna seemed completely unconcerned by his admission of how low regard he held her in. He had thought any self-respecting being, mortal, Asgardian or otherwise, would have retaliated at such an insult, but she appeared not even to notice. What's more her allusion to knowledge of his true character alarmed him slightly. How much _did_ this girl know? His initial response was to once again attempt to force the information out of her, but she had made it perfectly clear that there would be little use in doing that.

Instead he consoled himself with the reasoning that if she so easily let things slip, it may be easy to get what he wanted from her by more subtle means. After all he was in no rush and, unlike Thor, was perfectly capable of being patient. Of playing the long game. He would watch her. Study her. He would do as she asked, in actions at least, and ignore her suggestions of forbidden knowledge. Allow her to feel comfortable. And yet he would act as he wished, with no abhorrent pretence of being mortal. He would aim to slyly provoke these little slips of hers, to encourage her to make the mistakes that would tell him all he needed to know. He might even enjoy it, as one enjoys watching an animal in a cage, for he had to admit, she _was_ rather amusing to observe.

"Is it far to your place of work?" he asked, steering the conversation back to calmer grounds.

"Nope," she said, smiling, "Just the middle of my three barns, come on, I'll show you!"

She grinned like an excited child and actually grabbed his hand in her small gloved one, pulling him along as she skipped towards the door. Loki's brow raised at her sudden cheerfulness. She paused briefly to allow them to don their shoes and then raced off again, out of the door and across the courtyard where her dog bounded up to meet her. Loki followed at a more stately pace, amused by her abrupt change in humour.

As she reached the door to the bigger of the two stone barns that faced them her manner changed again, just as unexpectedly. The corner of her bottom lip was once again sucked in and she peered up at him through her lashes shyly as she unlocked the wooden door. Loki watched her curiously.

"Well, what d'you think?" she asked, pushing the door open and flicking on the lights.

The room inside was long, thin and low roofed, with bare stone walls and a poured concrete floor. A work surface stretched across the length of one of the long walls, covered with various paints, papers, inks and pens, with shelves above it which were crammed full of more of the same and much else besides. There were large racks, cupboards and filing cabinets stacked along the other walls, with canvases, bits of wood, and various other oddities piled between them. In the centre of the room stood several easels holding paintings in various stages of completion. The floor, and indeed parts of the walls, were covered in drops and splashes of paint in every colour imaginable.

"You're an artist then I take it?" he asked as she darted about the room, considering some pieces, moving others out of the way.

"Yup," she said, leafing through several sheets of sketches on her desk, "Painting, drawing, illustrating, commissions, even a bit of sculpture and carving; wherever the mood takes me – or what brings in the money! It's a good job for me; I enjoy it and it means I never have to leave home."

She seemed to settle in front of the largest of the canvases in the middle of the room, considering it for a moment with her head tilted to one side.

"Have a look around if you want, or sit down," she told him, turning to gather paints and brushes, "I need to finish this one, it's being picked up this week and it still needs at least two more sessions."

Loki followed her to her current project, weaving in and out of the paintings in progress around him, some no more than mere sketches, some nearing completion. He examined it as she busied herself behind him with the tools of her trade. The canvas was large and square, perhaps equal to Efanna's height. It currently appeared to depict a night's sky in innumerable shades of blue with a misty moon suspended large in one corner. The brush strokes were rough and energetic; the painting was not neat but it had an energy and depth that drew the eye and somehow seemed to stir emotions deep within its viewer.

"Beep beep!" Efanna said, prodding him gently in the shoulder with the butt of her paintbrush. Loki obligingly stepped out of the way.

"What you think?" she asked, her eyes almost anxious, as though seeking his approval.

"It has energy. Spirit," he replied, carefully. Efanna beamed at him.

"Art should be created not with paint nor pen, but emotion," she stated, loading paint onto her brush, "I'm not sure if anyone said that, or if it's just me, but it's the rule I've always stuck to."

She gave him a quick smile before applying brush to canvas in long, bold strokes. Loki watched her for a moment before turning to appraise her other works. Her style was definitely loose, organic, some might even say scruffy. Yet her paintings all held such life and emotion that Loki seemed more drawn to them than he had ever been by art before. As he wondered the room, looking over not only the easels but the many papers on her desk he found that her work covered everything from landscapes, to detailed sketches, or abstract compilations of shape and colour. Colour seemed very important to her, she appeared to use every shade in the spectrum and very few pieces were in black and white. But even within the most wild and riotous pieces there was a section in exquisite and meticulous detail which set off the its vivacity even more in contrast.

After a while he turned from the art, to the artist herself, seating himself on a chair and watching her work. Efanna seemed wholly immersed in what she did, painting with as much confidence and enthusiasm as she had danced earlier. The picture slowly grew and when she finally stepped back from it Loki saw the silhouette of a tree with winter-bare limbs swaying in the imagined breeze. She stared at it for a moment then made a small noise of satisfaction and turned, jumping slightly as she saw him.

"Oh! Yeah. Loki," she muttered, staring at him for a moment with her head to one side before shaking her head slightly and walking past him to wash her brushes and pallet. Loki noticed she had smudges of black paint on her cheek and nose.

"Am I really so easy to forget?" he asked, smirking at her reaction.

"Um, not really. I'm just really used to being alone. And, you know, not having an Asgardian Prince watching me."

"I am no Prince of Asgard," he told her darkly. She turned to look at him, eyes a mystery, even to Loki.

"No, I guess not," she said, somewhat distantly, "At least not at the moment?" There was something about her tone that suggested this was a question, although Loki didn't quite understand why.

His eyes narrowed as he stared at her, deciding to stay quiet rather than repeat the argument they had had after breakfast. She returned his gaze for a moment before busying herself again cleaning her brushes. When she turned back to him her cheery manner seemed to have returned.

o

"Here!" Efanna called, "It might be sunny but there's a fair breeze and this is Wales so you can't really expect it to be warm."

She handed Loki a cloak in deep green velvet with an intricate pewter clasp. It was one of her favourites, a full half-circle of fabric that could have covered even the biggest of men. That was one of the good things about cloaks – they weren't gender specific. Once again Loki's eyebrow raised as he took it from her grasp. He did that so often Efanna wondered that he didn't get muscle cramp in his forehead.

"I thought cloaks were no longer the fashion in Midgard," he said as he ran the fabric through his long fingers, inspecting it.

"Phft, who gives a damn about fashion? Cloaks are awesome!"

She swung her own about her shoulders, a lightweight wool one in deep purple which she and her mother had made themselves, from sheering the sheep and spinning the wool, to weaving and dying the fabric and finally stitching it together. It was a lot more roughly made than the one she had given to Loki, its handmade nature clearly evident, but she loved it more than any other. It was quite short on her now, having been made a decade ago, but that was another good thing about cloaks – you never really grew out of them.

"Shall we get going then? Before the good old Welsh weather changes on us!"

Loki swung his cloak around his shoulders and followed her as she walked across the courtyard towards the fields where the sheep were kept, whistling for Pip. Over lunch she had suggested they take advantage of the good weather and go for a walk. Loki hadn't anything better to do and so agreed. The fields to Efanna's farm were almost all above her cottage; originally there had been ones below as well but she rented those out to her neighbours as she had little need of them but needed the revenue they brought in. Although they wouldn't've been able to go far if they stayed on her land, the higher areas of the valley weren't so precisely marked and it was accepted that one could wander wherever they liked as long she the sheep weren't bothered. Although her anonymity kept the neighbouring farmers from really registering her existence, they were aware that at the top of the valley lived a young redhead and a dog that didn't worry the sheep so if they ever saw her they paid her no heed.

They wandered about the hills for the better part of two hours, talking occasionally but mostly watching each other from the corner of their eyes and thinking. As they rose above the shelter of the buildings the wind whipped their cloaks and the hem of Efanna's bright dress about their legs and she broke into a wide grin. The world was wild up here, and free and she loved it. Every now and then she would cheerfully point something out to Loki, a new flower, or the berries ripening on the hedges, or a bird circling the air currents above them. Each time his brow would quirk and more and more she started to giggle at him, earning her a cold stare, although he seemed to be restraining himself from actually retaliating. Efanna almost felt proud of him for this. When she finally did get a response from him he sounded more exasperated and angry, which she thought was an improvement.

"Efanna, what _are_ you doing?" he asked as they walked past a huddle of sheep and she bleated at the top of her voice to them.

"Saying hello," she told him, as if it was obvious. One delicate eyebrow rose again so she added, by means of explanation, "It's only polite to try and talk to them in their own language after all."

Loki looked at her as though she was mad. She had a feeling this would probably be a normal response had she told anyone else, but this was Loki so she wasn't quite sure.

"So you speak the language of sheep?" His tone was mocking.

"Not a word," she replied with aplomb, "I could be calling their most deadly insult for all I know, but they don't seem to mind so we get along fine."

Loki's gaze appeared to be seriously questioning her sanity but she simply smiled at him and scampered on further up the hill. Even if she was bonkers it's not like it was bothering anyone (except perhaps Loki) so she didn't give a damn.

As they made their way back towards her cottage, Pip treating them like sheep and circling them to ensure they stayed together, Efanna angled towards the young tree that stood at the highest point of her land.

"Hello, old friend," she muttered as she reached it, pulling one of her gloves off and laying her hand on the bark, feeling the comforting rush of its Memories.

"First sheep, now trees," she heard Loki mutter behind her. She imagined his eyebrow was probably raised.

Once the tree had finished updating her she turned from it and sat herself on a boulder a little ways up from it, pulling her glove back on in case Loki should have a temper flip and attack her again.

"I take it we are stopping here for a moment then?" he asked her.

"You can go back on down if you want, I just want a bit of company for a moment."

"Am I not company?" There goes the eyebrow.

"Well, yes, but I need some _familiar_ company. You're not always the easiest person to talk to, Loki."

"And the tree is?"

"Yes." She smiled at the look on his face. "I always come up here when I need to talk. The tree's a very good listener."

"Does it ever talk back?" His tone was mocking again and he was smirking at her. Efanna didn't mind though, at least it was a smile. Of sorts.

"In its own way."

She was quiet for a moment, staring past Loki and into the valley below.

"Besides," she whispered, "It's not like I've had anyone else to talk to."

"Why not?"

Loki's tone had changed from mocking to curious. Efanna looked up at him and sighed. She would have to tell him. It wasn't fair that she knew so much of his life and he knew nothing of hers. He would never keep his patience with her if she didn't tell him _some_ of her secrets. Not that this was so much a secret, just … painful.

"My Mam bought this farm when she found out she was pregnant with me," she said, knowing she would only be able to do this if she started from the beginning. "The first thing she did was plant this tree. She always loved trees. Said this one was to be a celebration of my life."

Efanna paused as the old ache threatened to overwhelm her.

"She died. Ten and a half years ago. 6th April 2002. I've been alone ever since."

She felt a tear streak down her face and turned to look at Loki. His face was carefully blank. For all that she knew him, she couldn't quite make out his emotion. How long he watched her for she didn't know. Her sense of time had always been vague.

"How old are you?" he suddenly asked.

"I'll be twenty-two on Samhain," she said, her voice quiet. "That's just over a month," she added at his questioning look.

"So you were…"

"Eleven years, six months and six days old," she completed for him.

He looked at her as if trying to calculate something. "Isn't that very young?" he asked. Efanna remembered that the comparative ages of humans and Asgardians were different.

"I was just a child," she said.

Loki was silent for a long time, his green eyes watching hers. Efanna didn't think she had seen him look so gentle, even though his eyes were still hard as agates (this was Loki after all). Not since he had fallen from the Bifrost. But then he saw himself as an orphan too.

"Did no one else care for you?" he asked eventually.

This is where Efanna was glad Loki knew so little of Earth culture and human ways. He wouldn't question that she'd never been put into care, wouldn't think it abnormal that an eleven year old girl was left to fend for herself here if she didn't tell him that it was.

"There was no one else," she told him, "Mam was an orphan herself. She'd been adopted, and although they were a nice couple, they took on so many abandoned children that she lost contact with them when she moved away to university. They don't even know I exist. I don't think they even know she's dead."

She watched Loki carefully and noticed when his eyes clouded over at the word 'adopted'.

"What about your father?" he asked eventually, his voice strained.

"I have no father," she said sternly.

Her tone caused Loki's eyebrow to rise again.

"Of course _biologically_ there was one," she admitted, her voice cold, "But he is not my _father_. He just happened to be there at my conception. And that is the _only_ time he has ever been there." There was venom in her voice, but she would not let herself think of that man. Loki wouldn't be the one losing his temper if she did.

Silence fell as both redhead and raven contemplated their parentage. Efanna pushed her emotions beside and watched Loki instead. She knew what must be going through his mind. He wouldn't be able to ignore the similarities in their heritage. His eyes were fixed on her, but she knew he saw something else. A small crease appeared between his brows and she felt she ought to change the subject away from fathers before his temper rose to breaking point.

"And so, you're the first person with whom I've had a conversation in ten and a half years," she said, forcing her small voice to sound cheerful and giving him a wan smile. Loki seemed to jerk himself back to the present.

"But surely there must have been others?" he asked, "Why were you not adopted also?" His voice seemed to catch on the word.

This is where Efanna would have to be vigilant with her words. She needed to be very careful here to skirt around that which she'd decided she would keep secret.

"I'm not normal, Loki," she said softly, "The world wasn't ready for me. I'm not sure it even is now. I wouldn't have survived out there."

Loki's eyes became curious again and she felt his attention double.

"So you were left to survive on your own? A mere child?" His tone was sceptical.

Efanna sighed. The injustice of it still hurt her.

"That's why Mam bought this place," she explained, "She always had a connection with the Natural Magiks of this world. The energies, the Spirits. Somehow she knew her life would be cut short, that she would leave me before I was grown. She kept me here, where I was safe, and taught me everything I would need to know to be able to look after myself. To be able to survive on my own. She gave me everything she could before she left me."

This is where Efanna was forced lie, but there was enough truth in it, she hoped, to satisfy Loki. It had been _she_ who had known her mother was going to die young, not her mother herself. She had only been five when she'd had the Vision. Seen herself waking up next to her mother's lifeless form. But her mother's connections with the Natural Magiks had allowed her to understand he terrified daughter's revelation. To guide her though her Visions and help her understand them herself. To teach her to accept her situation and to make the most of it. To live her life to the full.

Efanna hadn't realised she'd been crying until Pip jumped up next to her and starting licking her face earnestly. This was partly to make her feel better, she thought, and partly because he liked the saltiness of the taste. She giggled slightly and squirmed, trying to stop him licking her eyes. Her mother had loved her. She knew that and she always would. She could cope with the pain of having lost her, and besides her life wasn't all that bad, just a little lonely. Very lonely. But she knew her mother had loved her. That was more than Loki knew.

She straightened up, pushed the dog off her lap and wiped the thick layer of slime from her face onto her sleeve. Then she turned to Loki who was watching her with deep eyes.

"You okay?" she asked.

He looked confused and for some reason almost angry. Efanna guessed it was because he didn't want her to think him in pain.

"You have just told to me the details of your mother's death and your father's abandonment and yet you ask if _I_ am okay?"

"Yep," she stated simply. Loki looked incredulous.

"What concern is it of yours, mortal?" he asked, coldly.

Efanna sighed and stood up.

"Every concern, Loki," she said before reaching up and, very carefully, hugging him. Luckily his height meant she was in little danger of the skin of their faces touching, and the long sleeves of her dress meant Efanna's arms were covered. It was still a slightly risky action, especially given Loki's volatile nature, but Efanna knew the importance of a hug.

He didn't hug her back, his body stiffening at her touch. When she stepped back Efanna saw that he looked almost as if she had slapped him around the face rather than hugged him, except perhaps less angry. He stared at her for a long while and she held his gaze with a small smile.

"I do not know what to make of you, Efanna," he said eventually.

"That's alright, I'm not sure I do either."

She widened her smile, then turned to skip down the hill, calling Pip after her and laughing once more as the wind swept the wild scent of grass, and flowers, and sheep, and hay around her and reminded her that she was alive.

* * *

**Okay! So that's the foundations of their relationship laid down! Is there anything you'd particularly like to see before Loki finds out Efanna's secret? Let me know what you think! :D**


	6. Lessons in Human Nature

**As ever THANK YOU! to all my readers, reviewers, favouriters and followers! I love you all.**

A couple of notes on the reviews – as per _on-stolen-time_'s review, I shall now remain tight-lipped on the future of this story! I keep forgetting you don't know as much about what's going to happen as I do… Sorry!

To _Ryan_, she was wearing a scarf, hence no skin-on-skin with the strangling!

And to _xXxDragonxPhoenixXx,_ Loki certainly didn't expect her to!

o

Notes for this chapter:

The song Efanna is learning is 'Tracce' by Ludovico Einaudi, from his album 'Le Onde'. Not only is it beautiful, but particularly apt to this story, so I'd recommend checking it out! In fact check out the whole album!

'Mardy' is a colloquial term so I thought I'd better give a quick definition. It's kinda somewhere between 'stroppy' and 'sulky'. Yeah I could've used those words, but 'mardy' just fitted better! You can also be 'in a mardy' or 'throw a mardy', much like you can be 'in a stop' or 'throw a tantrum'.

o

**Chapter Six:**

**Lessons in Human Nature**

* * *

Loki was woken by music again the next morning. This time however it was gentler and far quieter. Although that wasn't hard, he mused as he looked up through the pane of glass in the roof above his head. Yesterday it had almost been enough to deafen him. He laid there for a while, considering the events of the previous day. Efanna's revelation about her mother's death, and particularly her lack of father had shaken him slightly. The loneliness in her voice had almost seemed to mirror his own and he had found himself beginning to feel sorry for her. Those thoughts had been firmly reined in once he had realised them however. Regardless of any pain she had suffered, the mortal was still beneath him, and not worthy of his compassion, nor even his pity.

Knowing, as he did now, the pain in her past made her all the more interesting to him though. Whilst it explained some of her more vulnerable moments he could not understand how she could appear so cheerful, so calm and at ease with the world that had treated her so cruelly, abandoned her and left her to fend for herself. Her seeming ability to treat him, a complete stranger, with such kindness when the world had deprived her of any such thing for herself disquieted him. He didn't believe any creature could truly be that selfless. To him it seemed yet another secret she was hiding behind those elusive white eyes of hers. Another reason for him to want to unravel her.

As these thoughts floated though his mind, Loki noticed something rather odd about the music drifting up from the sitting room. It seemed to consist of the same piece over and over again, fragmented with long pauses and jarring notes before moments where it suddenly took back off again. As he listened the melody grew stronger, still the same song but more complex with counter melodies woven into it, becoming more fluid until it began to sound like a proper composition. Curious he extracted himself from the covers and dressed, this time in his Asgardian shirt which Efanna had laundered for him.

As he left the room there was a longer pause and the piece seemed to revert back to what he assumed was the beginning. It started deeply and slowly, a melody haunting and sad. As he descended the stairs it warmed somehow until a higher tune was woven in, creating a sense almost of longing. It was definitely the same piece of music that had woken him, but now far superior. Upon entering the sitting room he was surprised to see the source of the music seemed to be Efanna. She was sat at the musical instrument by the door, her back straight and her hands caressing its black and white keys. Her confidence seemed to grow as the melody progressed, the strokes of her fingers more delicate, more defined. After she finished she seemed to take a deep breath, releasing it slowly before shuffling some of the papers and books on the stand in front of her.

"That was very beautiful, Efanna," Loki complemented her from the foot of the stairs. The music had indeed moved him, it was different somehow from that which he had listened to as a child growing up in Asgard. "Did you write it?"

Efanna jumped at his words, spinning round with a hand over her heart.

"Loki! Gods, you made me jump!"

She seemed to catch her breath before realising he'd asked her a question.

"Oh, no, I didn't write it, I was just learning it," she said, shifting slightly to show him the book in front of her, "I can play well, but I'm hopeless at writing anything myself."

She looked at him quizzically for a moment.

"You know, you actually sounded sincere then," she told him.

"Must everything I say be a lie?" he asked, slightly amused at her tone of voice.

"It usually is," she retorted with a knowing sort of look. Loki shrugged his shoulders and spread his hands slightly, unable to argue with such a statement.

"I am but what I am."

"As are we all," she replied sanguinely, "But really, did you actually mean it?"

Loki couldn't help but chuckle at the hopeful look on her face. She seemed so pitifully innocent.

"In this instance I was not, in fact, lying," he admitted. Her answering smile was like the sun coming up.

"Wow, Loki, thanks!" she exclaimed, "I'm guessing you preferred today's wake-up call to yesterday's then?"

"Considerably more so."

"Well, maybe I'll stick to the piano in the mornings then, if it means you're going to be so nice to me," she said, smiling at him.

Loki shook his head. It seemed laughably easy to make her happy. She tilted her head at him slightly, as she often did when it seemed she was trying to figure him out, but appeared to disregard whatever thought she'd had and instead sprang up from her stool.

"Breakfast?" she asked, walking into the kitchen with a bounce in her step.

Loki followed, watching as she pottered around, fetching bowls and this 'cereal', which he had discovered to be a mixture of oats, grains and dried fruits which was apparently eaten drenched in milk. She deposited them on the table, humming quietly to herself, and hid herself behind the lime green laptop which was already set up. He fetched the milk before he sat down himself, Efanna eating hers without. He was halfway through, watching her as she tapped and scrolled away, when he heard her sigh.

"I don't know why I bother reading the news," she said, "It's just depressing. Economic crisis, murder, war…"

She sounded and looked dejected, her voice heavy and her brow crumpled.

"If you had submitted to me, if you had allowed me my rightful place as your ruler, I would have stopped all these mindless wars," Loki told her, somewhat peevishly, "All this needless violence, this unnecessary bloodshed."

She turned her face from her gloomy contemplation of her laptop, her expression now profoundly sceptical.

"Would you, Loki? Really?" she asked, "If you think that then you truly don't understand us do you? Neither do you understand what it is to be a King."

She paused, registering Loki's increasingly irritated expression.

"Throughout history one thing has always been made particularly clear," she explained, "A King only rules as long as his people allow him to. That's what's happening in the Middle East, the people have decided they will no longer follow the person who rules them. That would have happened to you too, Loki; in fact it already did, before you'd even made it to power."

Loki's gaze was rapidly becoming frosty.

"I would have stopped such rebellions before they even started, brought peace to people's minds before they could have such thoughts," he told her fiercely.

"What, so you would've controlled the minds of _every_ human on Earth? All _seven billion_ of us? Yeah right, Loki, that would never have been feasible and you know it. You were hoping that if you controlled the majority, the ones with power, the ones with influence, that the rest of us would follow like sheep. That would never have worked. You gave us the very reason yourself, in your pretty little speech in Stuttgart."

"And what reason was that?" he asked darkly.

"'The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity'," she quoted.

"I do not see how that would ensure my failure," he retorted, surprised at her being able to quote him word-for-word, "It is the reason _why_ you mortals would be better off under my rule. You would have no need for identity. You would have no power."

"But don't you see?" Efanna cried, "It is the very _fact_ that we spend all our lives searching for our own power, our own identity that _makes_ us so unsuitable to be ruled! If it is so important to us that we let it 'diminish our life's joy' then why would we give it up just because you tell us to? Just because it would diminish _your_ life's joy if we didn't? We are a species to whom identity and individuality are incredibly important. They are a part of our most basic nature. As such we are probably one of the _hardest_ creatures to repress or control."

Her words were passionate and now accompanied by animated hand gestures. Loki however was decidedly unimpressed by her speech.

"We fight back, Loki," she told him firmly, "We're not just going to roll over and say 'oh, go on then' just because some mardy alien in fancy dress tells us to. I thought that was made perfectly clear to you? You faced rebellion even _before_ the 'Avengers' showed up; remember that old man? Even if you _had_ won, if you hadn't been made into Loki-mush by the Hulk and all that; if your plan had succeeded and you made yourself our 'King' you would have faced people like that from day one. And you wouldn't've been able to stop them quick enough, because these things spread, Loki, like wild-fire. Those you killed would have been made into martyrs. Their example would have been that there are others who would stand against you and brought people together, not proved that resistance is futile. We're an incredibly stubborn race. The best way to get us to do something is to tell us we _can't_. Then we'll go find a way, just for the sake of proving you wrong."

"So you're saying I should have conquered your world by telling people _not_ to submit to me?" he asked contemptuously, decidedly ignoring her mention of the Hulk and being made into 'Loki-mush'. His gaze could now accurately be described as icy.

Efanna laughed, the tension around her evaporating instantly.

"Yeah, well, that probably wouldn't've worked either," she admitted, affably, "On the whole I think it would've been better if you hadn't tried to conquer us at all."

"I care not for what you think, mortal," he told her coldly.

Efanna just shrugged and turned back to her laptop as Loki ate the rest of his, now soggy, breakfast.

"Oh! Stark's been causing trouble again," she muttered as he was putting his dish in the sink.

Loki's attention was immediately drawn and he moved across the room to gain a look at Efanna's screen. He was merely keeping up to date on the movements of his enemies, he told himself firmly, and not at all worried that they might have discovered his location. His conversation with Efanna had reminded him that he was far from as invincible as he liked to think. The heading stretching across the top of the screen, however, simply read 'Diplomatic relations strained after Iron Man intervention'.

"Apparently he's gone off gung-ho and rescued a load of citizens who got caught in the cross-fire; and turned a few tanks and military bases to dust by the look of it," she explained, noting his interest, "Bet he's getting a bollocking now. Kudos to him for actually _doing_ something though. Oi! Where are you going?" she added as Loki slunk off having decided it was nothing of importance. He stopped at the door, looking back at her in annoyance.

"You're not going anywhere till you've done the washing up. Here," she told him sternly, holding her empty bowl out.

Loki's eyes flashed. "And why am I doing it rather than you?" Many would have cowered at the tone of his voice. Efanna just shrugged.

"It's my turn to dry, I washed last night," she told him.

Loki scowled at her. He was a king, a god! And she dared order him to do such chores? Efanna just poked her tongue out at him.

"Insolent mortal," he muttered.

"Stroppy Asgardian," she retorted with a grin.

Despite his irritation he turned to the sink. He had learnt last night that Efanna was a particularly skilful nagger. She'd continuously chanted his name for a full quarter of an hour the previous night when he'd then refused to help, dancing out of the way whenever he had attempted to retaliate. She'd stopped only when he'd finally relented and he had no doubt she'd do the same now.

o

Efanna enjoyed ordering Loki around like this. She was sure it probably wasn't the most sensible of things to do, but seeing as he was in mortal form she was quick enough to evade him when his temper snapped. And he really needed to be brought down a peg or two. Talk about a superiority complex. As soon as he'd created a small pile on the draining board however, she grabbed a tea towel and joined him. She knew it wouldn't be a good idea to push him _too_ far.

"So," she said, grabbing the first of the soapy crockery, "What did you think of Doctor Who last night?"

The newest series of the show had once again taken pride of place on Saturday nights and she'd thought she may as well introduce her extraterrestrial guest to the joys of television with the best of British drama. He scowled at her, but appeared to consider her question.

"It was … interesting," he said, finally, "Unrealistic, but certainly imaginative."

"It's not supposed to be realistic, it's about a bow-tie wearing alien who travels through space and time in a blue phone box."

He looked down at her, his expression conceding her point.

"The … Doctor … annoys me though," he said.

"Why?"

"He has too high a regard for you mortals. If he is as advanced a being as he claims to be he should be ruling you, not rushing about the universe, saving you from creatures who are so obviously superior to you."

"Well, you would think like that, wouldn't you?" Efanna said with a small smile as he handed her another dripping bowl.

"He's also a coward – he does nothing but run. Plus he wears that ridiculous hat."

Efanna snorted. "Loki, _you_ are the last person who can complain about another's choice in headwear!"

"And what do you mean by that?" he asked darkly.

"The horns, Loki, I mean the horns," she said with a sly grin, "You can't tell me no one's told you you look like a goat with that helmet on! What is it with Asgardians and overly elaborate headwear?"

Loki looked down at her, obviously trying not to smirk. "I'm not sure I've been called _goat_ before," he admitted, "But I can't deny that that particular aspect of Asgardian fashion _is_ perhaps a little overly elaborate. Thor and I used to have the most lengthy arguments over whom looked most absurd when we were younger."

He stopped suddenly as if only just realising what he had said. Efanna noticed and quickly brought the subject back to Doctor Who.

"But there's nothing wrong with running away," she said smoothly, "They say bravery is another name for stupidity, and that a wise man knows when best to run."

He smirked again and Efanna assumed he was taking this as an insult towards his brother. She judged his temper sufficiently diverted.

"If you enjoyed it you should probably watch more, I would think it could be a good way for you to learn more about us humans as a species. After all, when do we reveal more about ourselves than when we tell stories?"

"Perhaps," he said, handing her a mug.

"It's gotta be more interesting than just watching me paint," she insisted, "I've got all six of the new series on DVD."

"_Six_ series?"

She shrugged. "Like I said, gotta be more interesting than watching me paint."

Loki watched her closely for a moment. "Very well."

Efanna had to resist the urge to punch the air. She had successfully managed to find a way to keep Loki out of her way for large proportions of the day. It wasn't that she didn't like his company, but since he had arrived she had been on tenterhooks, praying that she didn't have a Vision and collapse in front of him. She would only be able to pull off the whole 'falling over' excuse a limited number of times, and even then, only when her Visions were short flashes like the one she'd had in Cardiff. Thankfully the only Visions she'd had yesterday had been in the evening, where she'd been able to pass them off as simply falling asleep in front of the TV. Even if Loki agreed simply to not know for a while, he was smart and it wouldn't be too long before he figured it out. Or lost all patience and forced the answer out of her. The longer she could stall the better. Then maybe when he found out he might trust her enough not to want to kill her on the spot.

* * *

**Okay, please let me know what you think! It's now got to the tricky part where I need to pass sufficient time for them to get to know each other well, and show enough of their developing relationship, but not so much that I bore you all to death! So the time jumps are going to be getting a bit bigger I think. I'm not sure how well I'll do this as I've never written a story over such a long fictional time-scale before!**


	7. You Can Call Me Efa If You Like

**Big thank yous to all who've read, favourited, alerted or reviewed this story!**

Big thanks to _The-Lady-Isis_ for correcting that mistake, brainfog moment there!

Major brownie points to anyone who gets the (very subtle) Doctor Who reference :P

o

**Chapter Seven:**

**You Can Call Me Efa If You Like**

* * *

A loud crash caused Loki to look up from the book he was reading. It was one of the many dusty tomes left behind by Efanna's late mother, all of which appeared to be on the subject of the human brain and psyche. Loki had to admit, the subject had grasped his interest; these mortals could be fairly interesting creatures when studied. Their curiosity, in particular, intrigued him, for they seemed obsessed in finding a 'purpose' to their existence; yet what purpose could a creature have whose lifespan barely reached a century, and not even an Asgardian century at that? And yet the amount they managed to achieve in such short lives surprised him. An Asgardian of Efanna's age would barely be out of their cradle, however, though he was loath to concede it, her mind seemed to have matured at the same astonishing pace as her body. Though she was still remarkably young, even for a human, Loki was forced to confess that she could not really be classified a child.

On thinking of Efanna his attention was once again drawn to the noise which had interrupted him. The house had been remarkably quiet this morning until then, and he was surprised that he had not yet heard some response or exclamation from his energetic host at this disturbance. With a sigh he set down the book and ventured to investigate.

He heard a low groan as he entered the sitting room, and when he reached the kitchen he found Efanna hunched on the floor, apparently wrapped in her bedding, picking up what appeared to be the broken remains of a mug. She looked up as he entered the room and he noticed her eyes looked red and her skin sallow. Her dog was gently nuzzling her arm with concern in his eyes. Loki leant against the doorframe, crossing his arms, eyebrows raised questioningly.

"I tripped," she explained, tersely, "Help me pick this up will you?"

Loki's eyes raised further at her tone, but he bent down and scooped up the remaining pieces of smashed pottery. She gave him a wan smile in thanks and stood up, wrapping her bulky purple duvet around her shoulders. Beneath, her legs were bare and she seemed to wear an overly large, grey t-shirt emblazoned with large blue letters.

" 'I'm confused'?" he asked, peering at her chest to read the words as he deposited the remains of the mug in the bin.

" 'It's a big club, we got t-shirts'," she responded indifferently, "Don't worry, you won't get the reference yet."

He raised his eyebrows again with a small smirk, leaning against the counter and about to question her further, only to be interrupted before he could say anything.

"Oh, piss off Loki," she muttered, "I'm not in the mood for mardy Asgardians who think they're smart."

"I was under the impression that I was the only Asgardian here."

Efanna raised her middle finger at him before wrapping her bedding closer around her. Loki wasn't familiar with the gesture but he assumed it was a rude one.

"Why, whatever is the matter?" he asked, his tone too extravagant to be called polite.

"My head hurts," she told him flatly, "I'm going back to bed."

With that she turned and left the room, her dog hovering about her legs anxiously. Loki's brow furrowed. This was a far cry from her usual overly-cheerful behaviour. He followed her, noticing she stumbled slightly at the foot of the stairs.

"Efanna, are you alright?" he asked her.

"Leave me alone, Loki," she grumbled.

Loki's temper executed one of its many about turns. How dare she give him such a flippant response when he treated her with more civility than a mere mortal wench deserved? He watched coldly as she staggered up the stairs. It was not that he had cared anyway. He was merely interested as to what could have caused such a profound change in her personality.

o

_Heimdall walks through golden corridors until he reaches a grand door, guarded by two armoured men. They take one look at him and allow him entrance. Inside the room Odin, Frigga and Thor sit around a gleaming table, eating fruits and meats and idly discussing affairs of the Kingdom. They look up as Heimdall enters._

"_My King," Heimdall says, respectfully bowing his head to the All-Father, "Loki has requested that I deliver a message to Thor."_

"_Loki?" Thor asks, standing up suddenly, "Tell me, Heimdall, what do you see? What does my brother say?"_

_Thor's intensity fills the room, and Frigga's eyes are bright with a sudden hope for her lost son. Heimdall looks to Odin before he speaks, who gives him a slow nod._

"_His words were thus: 'Heimdall! I know you are listening! Tell Thor that he must join me here, on Midgard. Tell him he must hurry and that his precious Earth will fall if he does not!'," Heimdall repeats dutifully._

_Thor bangs his fist to the table, causing the plates and bowls to shake and clatter. Odin sighs and places his hand over his face and Frigga looks saddened and weary._

"_What mischief does my brother now wreak?" Thor asks, his voice angry and hurt, "What wrongs of his must I once again undo? Tell me, what danger does Midgard face?"_

"_Midgard does seem to face danger," Heimdall replies, "But it does not appear to be Loki who is the cause. On the contrary, he appears to call you to aid him in Earth's defence."_

_A shocked silence settles on the room._

"_What trickery is this?" Thor asks, not daring to believe that what he has hoped for for so long might finally come to pass, "What does my brother seek to gain by luring me to his side?"_

"_For once I believe his actions genuine," Heimdall explains, "It was not his choice to send this message, instead he was persuaded by one whom he now keeps company. He is with a mortal girl, a young redhead who has looked after him since his arrival on Midgard. She seems to know far more than she should, and pleaded with him to send for your help."_

Efanna's Vision was interrupted suddenly by a heat rising across the back of her neck and an acidic taste in her mouth.

"Bugger," she muttered, clamping one hand to her lips and rushing from her bed and across the hall to the bathroom, almost tripping over Pip. She had only just managed to raise the lid of the toilet before her stomach emptied its contents.

She sat heaving for several minutes, catching her breath in sharp, painful gasps and trying to keep her copper curls from her face. She could feel Pip's cold nose on her elbow and, between bouts, hear him whimper with anxiety. Her convulsions paused for a moment and she took the chance to breathe again, grimacing at the foul taste that stung her throat and nose. She reached to flush the toilet and grab some paper to wipe her dripping mouth but no sooner had she raised her shaking hand, her stomach churned again and she was once more choking and retching.

When this bout too hand finished she once again reached up, determined to manage to wipe her mouth. She was surprised to find a wad of tissue placed into her hand. She jerked back instinctively for she wasn't wearing her gloves and the tissue fell to the floor. Thankfully their hands hadn't touched; the _last_ thing she needed now were Loki's Memories. She grabbed the toilet paper quickly from the floor and spent the next few moments viciously wiping her mouth, spitting, and blowing her nose, trying to clean herself up as best she could and rid herself of the foul taste and odour, before looking up at her guest.

Loki was perched on the edge of her bath next to her, looking down with his eyebrows raised, as he usually did.

"Efanna, what happened?"

She glared at him. "I threw up," she told him flatly.

It was her turn now to get a cold look.

"Well I could _see_ that," Loki said curtly, "I was wondering _why_ you were throwing up."

"I thought it would be a fun way to spend the day," she told him sarcastically.

Loki was the one glaring now but Efanna really wasn't in the mood to pander to his bruised ego. Especially as her stomach chose this moment to ensure it hadn't left anything behind. Besides, it was a question she was asking herself. Normally she didn't get ill, or at least she didn't get anything worse than a slight temperature or a headache. Her strange self-healing powers seemed to sort all that out. The last time she'd thrown up was when she was five, so why was she currently heaving her guts up now?

When she could finally breathe again Loki threw another wad of tissues at her. She was surprised he was being so friendly, so she decided to give him a proper answer.

"I think it's your fault," she said, spitting another mouthful of bile into the toilet.

"_My_ fault?" he asked darkly.

Okay, so she probably could have phrased that a little more diplomatically.

"Yeah, you've probably got some Asgardian virus that your body knows how to fight off already, but mine doesn't so it's making me puke my guts out," she explained, shakily, "It fits time-wise. If you caught it just before you got sent here and then gave it to me on Friday, couple of days incubating and now – wham! Yesterday's dinner makes an unwelcome appearance. You probably wouldn't even notice if you were feeling a bit worse for wear, what with being shoved into a mortal body and thrown halfway across the universe and all that."

Loki's gaze softened as she explained her theory.

"I suppose that does make sense," he admitted, "A mortal reaction to an Asgardian illness would be fairly severe I would have thought."

"Yippee," Efanna muttered grimly.

o

Loki watched as Efanna leaned back against the tiled bathroom wall, sipping a glass of water he had poured for her after it became obvious she wasn't going to be able to herself. Her dog had shoved his head onto her lap. She looked awful. Her skin was deathly pale and there were dark circles about her eyes. He almost found himself feeling sorry for her, for if she was correct then he was the cause, albeit unintentionally, of her current discomfort. That thought worried him for a moment, but he reasoned that it was because he hadn't _meant_ to cause her harm that he wasn't enjoying it. If it was something he had planned he was sure that he would relish in her pain, just like any other pathetic mortal.

"Do you think you've finished now?" he asked.

She cracked open one of her eyes a little.

"I'm not sure," she said, "But I've stopped getting that hot feeling on the back of my neck. I just feel cold now."

Indeed, the hairs on her arms were raised and she was shaking violently. Loki wasn't really sure what to do. Caring for sick mortals was certainly not one of his areas of expertise and he had no intention of making it one.

"You should probably go back to bed," he told her.

"Probably. What time is it?"

"Roughly two o'clock in the afternoon, I believe."

"Oh," she muttered, "Did you finish up that ham for lunch?"

Loki rolled his eyes as he informed her that he had. Why, in the name of Valhalla, was she worrying about what he'd had for lunch?

"Good, I hate wasting food."

She was quiet for a moment, her eyes sliding back into her head as she moaned slightly. Loki shifted in her perch on the edge of the bath. It was really not the most comfortable of places to sit.

"Loki?" Efanna asked softly.

"What?"

"Why are you here?"

The question surprised him a little.

"You were making such a racket I couldn't concentrate on anything else," he answered.

"Yes, but why are you _still_ here?" she asked, "I shut up ages ago."

Huh. Good question. What _was_ he doing crammed into a tiny bathroom that reeked of vomit with a mortal who was quite obviously no longer causing a distraction?

"I have nothing better to do in this miserable corner of the universe," he retorted bitterly, telling himself that that was the only possible reason.

"Huh," she mumbled, her voice barely audible, "You must really hate it here then?"

She looked so pitifully sad as she said this that Loki almost caught himself feeling sorry for her again. Almost.

"You know, you're right," she whispered, her words slurring, "I think- I will- go back- to bed."

She pushed herself onto her hands and knees and tried to stand up, but obviously thought better of it. In the end she crawled back to her bedroom. Her dog kept gently nudging her face, as if trying to figure out what she was doing on all-fours like him. Loki staid put, listening to the creak of the floorboards and the grumble and thump as she heaved herself into bed. He then left the bathroom and peered through her open door to see his young host curled in a ball on her side in the middle of her bed, dog laid out beside her, already asleep.

o

_There is a round cage, glass walls and white pillars. It sits in a large room, held in place by sturdy metal arms that hang from the ceiling. Beneath it is a floor which will disappear at the touch of a button to reveal the clouds below. There are figures within the cage, a multitude of images all superimposed upon each other, all vying for their possibility of happening._

_/Loki paces the cell in a long leather coat, his hands behind his back. He is anxious, agitated and feels somehow lonely and small. He hates feeling so./_

_/Loki lies in a crumpled heap on the floor, bruised and bleeding as Agent Barton viciously kicks him in the stomach with steel capped boots. Barton's mind is twisted with anger and Loki's with pain. Efanna watches from behind the glass, held in place by Captain America. She screams for Barton to stop./_

_/Loki is tied to a chair in the centre of the cell. Agent Romanoff stands over him, her eyes dark. Efanna is restrained by Agent Barton at the edge of the cage. Loki and Efanna's eyes meet with a shared pain as Loki refuses to tell Romanoff what she wants to know. She uses her 'Widow's Bite'. Loki screams. Efanna cries./_

_/Loki and Efanna sit within the cell together, on the small cot. They are watched by the careful eye of Captain America. Efanna holds his gaze with a gentle smile._

"_Why are you here?" Loki asks Efanna._

"_We're waiting for Thor before I tell them all my big secret," she replies, cheerfully._

"_But why are you _here_? They weren't going to lock you up."_

_Efanna turns her smile to him./_

_Efanna's voice rings throughout every possibility, clear and strong._

"_I promised I wouldn't leave you, Loki."_

Efanna blinked away the rioting images, pressing a hand to her aching temple. Why did she have to have such violent Visions when her head already hurt this much? She shook her head, trying to dislodge the echo of her screams, and Loki's. They were only possibilities. They might never happen. She would do all she could to ensure they never did.

"You're awake again then?"

Efanna jumped at the sound of Loki's voice. She looked over to the doorway of her room to find him leaning there, arms crossed, eyebrows quizzical.

"Loki! What are you doing here?" she cried weakly.

Loki's brow furrowed. "You were … screaming," he told her.

Oh. Well that made things harder to explain. She didn't usually talk whilst having her Visions, or at least she didn't think she did. Her mother had never said so, and there hadn't been anyone else since then to tell her. Perhaps it was this virus?

"I must've drifted off…" she muttered. It wasn't exactly a lie, she had been drifting in and out of consciousness since her puking fit, this time it had just been for a different reason. "Must've had bad dreams."

"Very bad, from the sound of it," Loki commented coolly, "Can you remember them?"

"No…" she lied, her brow furrowing as her mind reminded her of the truth.

Loki delicately raised one eyebrow, obviously not believing her. Efanna squirmed under his gaze, shifting her head on the pillow and looking around to avoid his eyes. Her covers were in a crumpled heap, hanging half off the bed. That was odd. She'd been pleasantly burrowed beneath them before the Vision hit, and she usually laid still as death when under their influence. But then she had no idea how an Asgardian virus might affect her and her Visions. Pip was laid by the chair to her desk, watching her carefully.

She suddenly realised that she was achingly cold. And that she was only wearing boxers and a t-shirt (albeit a large one). Loki's gaze seemed to intensify as she thought this, but she was sure it was only her imagination. After all, he didn't have his mind reading powers at the moment. Painstakingly she pulled her aching limbs into a position where she could push herself up, but they felt like lead and would barely move. Eventually she managed to lift her head from the pillow and force herself into a semi-sitting position, but the moment she did so the world seemed to tilt and spin and her head was dragged back to the bed. She laid still for a moment, blinking slowly and waiting for the room to stop moving.

"Okay," she muttered, "So sitting up isn't a good idea then."

She fixed her eyes back on her covers, trying to figure out a way she could retrieve them without lifting her head. In the end she shuffled and dragged herself until she was horizontal in the middle of the bed with her head almost off the edge. Pip came up and licked her face.

"Piss off, pup," she mumbled, feeling dizzy even though she was lying down.

She grabbed at her covers, trying to pull them on top of her shaking body, only she couldn't seem to move them. Since when were duvets this heavy? Loki chuckled at her and she glared at him. He was still stood there, leaning nonchalantly against her doorway and looking amused.

"What?" she growled angrily at him. Sure, she probably did look ridiculous, but he didn't have to actually _laugh_ at her. That was just mean when she was feeling so utterly shit.

"I'm _cold_," she added by way of explanation.

"Why didn't you just ask me to help?" he asked.

Efanna raised her eyebrows. "Would you have agreed to?"

Her question seemed to trouble Loki, and he looked thoughtful for a moment before slowly stepping in and lifting her duvet to drop it on top of her in a pile.

"Apparently," he said, with a small smirk.

Efanna was shocked, but wasted no time kicking and wriggling until she was warmly cocooned, with only her face showing. Slowly her shivering eased a little and she turned to meet Loki's watching eyes. Whilst she had been cocooning herself he had grabbed the chair from her desk and now sat a couple of feet from her bed. She was curious as to why he was being so nice, but right now gratitude took precedence so she smiled at him as warmly as if he'd just saved her life.

"Thanks," she whispered as she felt her eyelids begin to droop again. Before he could respond she was already asleep.

o

Loki looked up as Efanna once again mumbled, but he could make out no words so he turned back to the book he was reading. It was about something called Neuro-Linguistic Programming, which actually appeared to be a remarkably intelligent theory, although in the hands of mortals it was incredibly restricted in its use. Loki however was making mental notes and adaptations as he read and felt certain that he would be able to use such techniques for much more than these mortals if he chose.

Efanna's voice rose again and Loki's eyes snapped to hers sharply. He managed to catch the words 'message' and 'secret', but the rest was once again unintelligible. She had been muttering such tantalising hints in her sleep since the great nightmare that had caused him to check on her in the first place. Every time she talked he hoped she might say something of value, but all he'd heard were disjointed words.

He leant back with a sigh. He had been reading in his room when Efanna had interrupted him for the third time that day. When he had poked his head around her door he'd found her thrashing and writhing in her bed, screaming at the top of her lungs. What had alarmed him though, was what it was that she had been screaming:

"_Loki!"_

The sound still rang through his mind. Her voice had been so raw, so full of pain it had sounded as though her heart had been breaking. But why _his_ name? What nightmares could she have had that would cause her to cry out to him in such a way? What had so haunted her sleep that she now refused to tell him? It was in the hope of getting some answer to these questions that he continued to watch her, even though many hours had now passed since she had briefly awoken to find him at her doorway.

"L- … Lo- ki," Efanna mumbled, turning her head and smiling gently.

It was so different a way to how she had called his name when he had first looked in on her. Of all the things she'd said since then, his name had been the most common and he longed to know why. He was not controlling her mind, had not entered her dreams; he lacked the power to do so even if he had wanted to. So why did he feature so heavily in Efanna's dream-speech? What other reason could there be for a mortal girl to dream of him?

Efanna yawned then, and slowly her eyes fluttered open.

"L-Loki?" she asked as her eyes met his, this time aware of what she was saying, "You're still here?"

Seeing as the answer to that question was evident, Loki decided not to grace it with an answer. Instead he elected to quite obviously look her over, which had the desired effect of making her seem self-conscious and forget her question as she busied herself greeting her dog who had placed his chin on the side of her bed. She seemed to have regained a bit of colour in her cheeks, but there were still dark circles beneath her eyes and she kept placing her hand to her head as if trying to hold it in place.

"What time is it?" she asked eventually.

Loki glanced at the projection of the clock on the wall. "Thirty-five minutes past the twenty-second hour," he told her.

"Shit!" she cried, pushing herself up, "I need to get the hens in!"

Loki scowled. "No, you don't."

"What?" Efanna asked, confusion written all over her face, "Are they-?"

"Yes, they're fine," Loki snapped, "I got them in myself."

"You?"

Efanna looked gobsmacked. Loki didn't blame her. It was not something he had done willingly.

"Your _dog_ forced me to," he admitted sourly, "He started whining and wouldn't shut up until he'd led me to the barn and I'd closed the doors. He's almost as good a nagger as you are."

Efanna looked delighted. "Good boy!" she murmured, giving her hound a scratch between the ears.

"That had better have been meant for the dog and not me," Loki told her darkly. She laughed.

"I would never dare to talk to the great Loki Silver-Tongue in such a fashion!"

Loki raised his eyebrow sceptically. Efanna laughed again.

"Okay, so maybe I would," she admitted, "But, yes, I was talking to Pip, and not you. This time." She poked her tongue out at him.

"So the beast gets thanks and not me?"

"Well by the sounds of it, it was Pip who actually did all the work," she teased, a wicked grin on her face, "But, thank you, Loki. I would never have expected you to do such a thing."

She looked so happy that he had that Loki was forced to look away in disgust. To which she giggled.

"I take it you're feeling better then?" he asked, indignantly, "Seeing as your crude attempts at wit have returned."

"Yeah, I guess I am…" she said slowly, "I'm still a bit dizzy though, and I'm not sure I should eat quite yet. What did you have for dinner by the way?"

Loki narrowed his eyes, trying to think of a way he could get out of this situation gracefully.

"Cereal," he eventually admitted, shortly. Efanna looked confused.

"But there were plenty of eggs, and cheese, and mushrooms. Why didn't you have an omelette or something?"

"I can't cook," he told her grumpily, deciding there was no way out of this current situation. Efanna was too stubborn and somehow seemed to be able to see through his lies.

"Seriously?" Efanna asked, incredulously, "Not even eggs?"

Loki gave her a very dark glare.

"There was never any need for me to learn. Cooking is servants work, why should a Prince need to know how?"

"But what about when you went off on all those journeys, those expeditions with Thor and the others?"

"We always brought at least one servant with us to cook and prepare our camp," he told her, wondering, once again, how she could know of such things.

"You spoilt buggers!" she muttered, "How on Earth were you ever going to survive here if you don't even know how to cook?"

"I have survived thus far have I not?" he asked her coldly.

"Good job you found me then. Or rather, good job I found you. In fact, that's a good point. What were you going to do had I not found you and brought you here?"

She was propped up on one arm now, regarding him curiously with her head once again tilted to one side. Loki sighed and placed his book on the floor.

"I would have found another woman who would have done the same thing."

Realisation dawned on Efanna's face. "Ah. Well, it's a good thing I did come get you then, somehow I don't think you would've bothered with … protection and that probably would've ended up unpleasant … for all parties involved…"

"Protection?" he asked quizzically. It wasn't a term he'd heard before.

Efanna shifted uncomfortably.

"Uh… I'll let someone else explain that to you."

"Efanna, there _is_ no one else. Who are you expecting to explain it, the dog?"

"Yeah, sorry Loki, but that's something else you're not getting out of me. I'm sure you'll find someone who can explain it to you eventually, just, maybe be careful who you ask okay?"

Loki was feeling distinctly left out of the loop and it wasn't an experience he was enjoying. However the way she was acting was making him have second thoughts about whether this was a conversation he really wanted to have with Efanna of all people.

"Very well," he conceded finally. Efanna smiled wryly at him.

"So," she said, fairly obviously changing the subject, "What have you been doing up here? Watching me sleep must've been pretty boring."

"I've been reading," he replied, gesturing to the book on the floor, "And in fact watching you sleep hasn't been as boring as you might have thought."

She looked at him quizzically, her head tilting once again.

"You've been talking," he explained with a smirk, "It was … interesting."

Efanna looked mortified which only made Loki's smirk wider.

"Um… what did I say?" she asked, timidly.

"Mostly gibberish," he answered, "But…"

Efanna had looked momentarily relieved, but now her curiosity was once again caught.

"But…?" she asked.

"You said my name," he told her slowly, "Quite a lot."

Loki still wasn't sure how he felt about this. It wasn't the fact that she'd said it that was bothering him. More the _way_ she had said it. Every time had held so much emotion, and yet not once had her voice contained anger or hate.

"Oh," she said softly, "That makes sense I guess."

Loki's brow furrowed slightly in confusion.

"Loki, you're the first person I've met in over ten years," she explained gently, "And only the second person I've ever really met in my whole life. Is it really so surprising that I would dream about you?"

He considered this for a while as Efanna watched him kindly. For the first time he began to realise the extent of the regard she held him in, which only served to confuse him more. Why would someone like her think of him in such a way? What had he ever done to deserve her kindness?

"You look tired," she told him quietly.

"So do you," he retorted.

"Even after sleeping all day," she said with a wry smile, "You should go to bed. I'll be fine now, and I'm sure you won't miss much. If I dream anything particularly interesting I promise to tell you in the morning."

"Very well," he said with a small smirk, standing, "Goodnight, Efanna."

"You know, you can call me Efa if you like, Efanna's a bit of a mouthful."

Loki looked back at her, propped up against her pillows in that stupidly large t-shirt with her hair dishevelled and sprawled around her. Somehow she looked so serious, so sincere.

"Goodnight, Efa."

She smiled.

"Goodnight, Loki."

* * *

**Yep, you know the drill – please tell me what you think!**


	8. Memory and Suspicion

**THANKS! for all my reviews and everything! I love you!**

For my guest reviewer, the Doctor Who reference was thus:

_Series 6 Ep 3 (the one with pirates)_

_Captain Avery: I'm confused_

_Doctor: Yeah, well, it's a big club, we should get t-shirts_

^_^ Ever since I saw that I wanted a t-shirt like the one I gave Efa. It's a very subtle reference though!

o

Now onto the actual story! A short chapter this one, and I've been both kind and mean to you. Kind because I'm updating again after I only did so last night, mean because this one's got a cliff-hanger! Enjoy!

Oh and NLP = Neuro-Linguistic Programming

o

**Chapter Eight:**

**Memory and Suspicion**

* * *

Efanna sighed and threw down her paintbrush in annoyance. It made a green splatter on the floor but she wasn't bothered. It had been a long time since the concrete of her workshop floor had looked even remotely concrete coloured. She was behind schedule. Her day of illness had almost caused her to miss the deadline for the commissioned piece Loki had first seen her painting. Thankfully it had now been delivered, and she'd received full payment and thanks, but the delay had impacted on her other work and managing her Asgardian guest was proving more time consuming than she had expected. A small art shop in a nearby town was holding an exhibition of her work in a week's time and she still had to complete at least a quarter of the work for it.

She dug her hand into her forehead and ran it through her hair, leaving green streaks of paint that she couldn't be arsed to be concerned about. The painting before her was slowly starting to take shape; a mass of greens, swirling into a vortex as though moved by vicious invisible currents. It was obviously inspired by Loki. She could feel his conflict and his pain as she painted and in her mind's eye saw a circular inscription of runes depicting loss and suffering. Idly, she wondered what he would think when he saw it, but her thoughts were interrupted once again by memories of the previous days and Visions.

Efa groaned, holding her head and leaving more smudges on her pale skin. Her mind was too full. She'd only been able to clear it once since Loki had arrived. She was used to doing so every evening and more had happened that needed processing in the last week than she normally dealt with in months, leaving her poor mind overflowing. Not only did she now have to deal with her _present_ for the first time in over a decade, but her Visions were becoming more insistent, almost as frequent now as they had been around the incidents of Manhattan earlier that year.

It was no use. She'd have to risk it. Not only did she feel as though she would burst if she didn't, but she was sure that something was brewing. Something strange, something quite possibly dangerous and something that seemed to actually involve _her_, for she had Seen herself more times in the past week than she had in her entire life. Efanna wanted to know as much about it as she possibly could. She would have to check that Loki was busy first though; if he caught her there would be no way she could hide her secret any longer.

She cleared an area of her workspace, preparing everything so she didn't have to spend any more time than necessary. Once everything was set up she dashed through the drizzle across to her kitchen, on the pretence of getting a drink if Loki should catch her. Luckily, when she peeked her head around the door into the lounge she saw that he was sat at the TV, watching more Doctor Who. Efa suspected that he was actually quite enjoying it. They'd developed a routine – he'd watch it whilst she painted, and then at mealtimes and whenever he wanted a verbal sparring match they'd argue over everything from plot holes to the development of the characters to the deep psychology behind the script and what it showed about the human character. Efanna was beginning to have a sneaking suspicion that they were both beginning to disagree simply for the fun of arguing. Loki refused to let her have the last word and she loved provoking him. Their discussions were sharp, quick and at times incredibly obscure and they were the most fun she had had in years. And by the way Loki's mouth always began to curl up at its corner at her retorts, Efa suspected he enjoyed having someone who wouldn't just give up more than he would ever admit.

He was about half way through the second series now, apparently the double-parter where Rose and the Doctor meet the 'Beast' buried on the asteroid orbiting a black hole. Efa grinned. Not only did he seem to be near the beginning of the story, which would give her plenty of time, but that was going to make for interesting over-dinner conversation later.

She quickly snuck back to her workshop, not wanting to announce her presence if she didn't need to, and retrieved one of her large sketch pads from the large filing cabinet in the corner. It was one she kept locked, even though she so rarely had visitors. The contents of these sketch pads she didn't want anyone finding out about. She flipped through the first few pages, already covered, and neatly wrote the date at the top of the next blank one. She uncapped several different coloured pens, lining them neatly up at the top of the page and took the black one in hand, holding it just above the centre.

Efanna calmed her mind, running through the exercises her mother had taught her all those years ago. Slowly her subconscious took over and her hand began to jerk across the page as everything that had happened since she'd last sorted through her mind swirled about her head and was transferred to the paper in front of her. Her eyes were unfocussed, the limbs she was not using, limp. Her brain had shut off everything that wasn't connected to the clearing of her mind. If Loki walked in now she would have no knowledge of it and he would inevitably find out everything.

Other than her increased ability to heal and her apparent anonymity, Efanna's Visions had produced one more side effect for her to contend with: she was incapable of forgetting. Since her memories had first begun in earnest, when she was around two years old, she had not forgotten a single day, a single second of her life. To most people this would sound wonderful, but to Efa it was a pain in the arse. The human brain is not really made to store that quantity of information and the sheer amount of tedious detail very quickly gave her extreme headaches. But this was not the reason Efanna envied those who could forget. There were many things, both that she had Seen and that she had actually experienced, that she sorely wished she did not have to remember.

When Efa had been five her mother had developed a way of rationalising her mind, a way of allowing the subconscious to take most of the burden of memory, thus allowing Efanna's conscious mind some rest. She still remembered everything, but it no longer had to remain at the forefront of her mind all the time. As Efa grew, her Visions showed her how to perfect her mother's original NLP based technique until it grew into what it was now. Efa would enter a meditative trance, allowing the subconscious part of her mind to filter through her memories, deciding what was important, what she could deal with and what needed to be stored for now. This was processed physically using her skill at drawing, into a form where Efanna could understand consciously what her subconscious had decided. The resulting sketches now filled an entire cabinet, and contained many things which would be rather incriminating if anyone should find them.

o

"Pinch, punch, first of the month!" Efa cried cheerfully, lightly pinching and butting her fist against Loki's arm.

"Pardon?"

"It's the first of October!" she told him with a smile, "It's a human thing, don't worry about it. It doesn't really make any sense anyway…"

Her voice trailed off and her head tilted to one side again as she appeared to consider this strange mortal tradition. Loki shook his head gently and went back to eating his cereal. He was used, by now, to her strange habits.

"How goes the work?" he asked, noting that once again she was covered in paint smudges, this time black and grey.

"Really good! I've just finished one, I've now only got, what five? six? more to do before next Monday."

She grimaced slightly and he smirked at her.

"But, you know, seeing as it's not actually raining and I've got hand cramp, I thought we should maybe go for another walk."

"As you wish."

Efa beamed at him, as over-enthusiastic as always and rushed upstairs, babbling something about waiting for her outside whilst she changed her clothes. Loki had learnt that with Efanna, it was easiest to just take the path of least resistance. She was quite simply the most overbearingly stubborn being he had ever met and would ruthlessly nag him if he tried to protest against any of her plans. They had had a fairly heated argument, however, when she had asked him to help her 'muck out' the chicken barn.

The majority of these ideas of hers he didn't actually mind. Despite all his expectations, Efa was a fairly entertaining companion, and the more relaxed she was in his presence the more she let slip about the amount she knew. He had carefully prompted her towards varying topics which she should have no knowledge of and yet each she had discussed as freely as she did the weather. She knew a surprising amount about Asgard, even including such plants and animals that he was sure did not exist on Midgard. Her knowledge of his attack on New York was less unexpected, seeing as it had occurred in her own realm, but even there she spoke of details that he was sure she had no way of knowing. Most alarmingly, though, was the intimacy with which she discussed _him_, alluding to aspects of his nature and moments of his past which not even Thor knew of.

Although he now had far greater information about the extent of her knowledge, she had been remarkably adept at keeping her source secret. Despite her apparent tendency to talk impulsively about whatever entered her mind, she was skilled at evading any hidden questions in his speech. On the few times he had grown frustrated and simply demanded he tell her the truth she had darted out of his reach and gave him answers that were either so vague or pedantic that he forgot what he was asking her in a fit of anger. With hindsight he had a sneaking suspicion that she had deliberately orchestrated those encounters to provoke such a response, apparently unconcerned about the few times he had managed to hit or kick her in retaliation.

Loki was growing more curious about her by the day. Unless this mortal body had weakened his mind, he was sure that no mere Midgardian should be able to play him in such a way as she. But there were other aspects to her that were tugging at him. If ever she bruised, her skin seemed to clear far quicker than his own in this form; and if ever it appeared that their bare skin might touch she somehow managed to dart away before contact could be made. He was becoming increasingly aware of the black gloves she wore whenever she was interacting with him, yet removed for any other purpose.

His musings had now taken him to the courtyard, where he stood with a brisk breeze whipping his new leather coat around his legs. He was far more comfortable now he once again had the luxury of clean clothes every day, even if Efanna forced him to launder them himself. On thinking of Efa, he began to wonder where she was. Unlike Asgardian women she seemed unconcerned about her appearance, and more often than not was covered in paint. It was certainly unlike her to take this long. He waited a couple of minutes longer before deciding to investigate his mortal host's whereabouts.

"Efa?" he called out, entering the utility. Strangely there was no answer.

He removed his boots and entered the house properly, calling her name again. Once again silence. He frowned slightly and entered the sitting room where he found her, sprawled on the stone floor at the foot of the stairs, her dog gently nudging at her face.

"Efa?" he called again, slowly walking towards her.

He couldn't tell if she was breathing or not. He pushed aside the dog and knelt down beside her, brushing aside a lock of her orange hair and placing the back of his hand to the space before her nose and mouth. He breathed a small sigh of relief when he felt a slight tickle on his skin.

"Efanna?"

Her eyes were closed and she made no sign that she had hear him. Loki moved his hand to her shoulder and shook her gently.

"Efanna, can you hear me?"

Once again there was no response and Loki tried to ignore the fact that he could feel his heart rate steadily rising. He could _not_ be worried about a mere _mortal_.

"Efanna," he repeated, his voice stern this time.

He pushed gently on her shoulder, rolling her limp body onto her back. There was a trickle of blood working its way down her paint-streaked face from her hairline.

* * *

**So yeah, thoughts? I'd love to hear them! I'm now off to write the next chapter, hopefully it won't be too long!**


	9. Questions of a Habitual Liar

**Large amounts of love to everyone reading, reviewing, alerting and favouriting this!**

Yay! Another really quick update! We're getting to the first of the big emotional turning points now so it's coming thick and fast, hope you enjoy!

o

**Chapter Nine:**

**Questions of a Habitual Liar**

* * *

Loki froze. What did he do? He had little knowledge of human anatomy or medicine but he was fairly sure that bleeding from the head was never a good sign. Was she dying? Should he save her? If so, how? He had not the knowledge and who was there whom he could ask?

He vaguely recalled some mention of calling something called an ambulance when something similar had happened on the television, but even if he figured out how, that would mean bringing official attention upon himself and that was something he desperately wanted to avoid. What if the mortals who arrived suspected him of causing such an injury? How widely was his face known after his attempted invasion? Could alerting such people in order to save Efanna result in S.H.E.I.L.D. finding him? He knew from the minds of those he had controlled during his attack that they paid a particularly close watch on the emergency services of the world.

But if he did not obtain help, what would happen to Efanna? If she died, he would be responsible. Why did that thought somehow sit so ill at ease within his mind? He had killed countless others without a second thought, revelled in the deaths of her kind; why should he regret the death of one mortal girl whom he had not even killed himself?

Answers came unbidden from the back of his mind; answers that he was not comfortable with at all.

_Because she showed you kindness._

But what need did he have for the kindness of one so beneath him?

_Because she would save your life, were it in her hands_.

Somehow he knew this to be true, but that was how it should be, after all he was a god and she a mere mortal!

_Because you care about her_.

This thought stopped him in his tracks.

No.

He could not care about so pathetic a creature. He would not stoop so low as to feel anything but contempt for one of such pitiful a race. Whilst it was true that he found her more interesting than he had expected, more commendable than any other of her species, he most certainly did _not_ care for her. Such a thing was unthinkable. Impossible.

No, he was merely reluctant for her to die as without her he was trapped in this remote, isolated, damp, miserable place, miles from any city or place of power where he might be able to improve his fortunes. She had made it clear that there was little hope of him escaping this accursed valley without her assistance. Plus, even though she had little contact with the outside world, someone was likely to notice her disappearance, which would then most likely lead to problems for him. Being the suspect in a murder trial, even if he was innocent, was not the best way to avoid S.H.E.I.L.D.'s attention.

He would not let her die. It would be too much of an inconvenience.

o

_Images, sounds, emotions; all rush past so quickly they are almost illegible. _

_Fireworks; fields covered in snow and ice; Clint Barton shooting a fire-tipped arrow; Loki standing in frost giant blue; Bruce Banner and Tony Stark working in a laboratory; Natasha Romanoff aiming a gun, her face streaked with blood; a bonfire reaching towards the sky; Steve Rodgers holding his hand out to Efanna, a determined look on his face; Thor raising Mjölnir to the heavens with an almighty cry; freezing mist encircling Efanna, obscuring everything from her sight, forcing its way into her lungs…_

Efanna's eyes shot open as she gasped for breath, to find Loki's hand hovering above her face. Instinctively she jerked away and in doing so caught a glimpse of his expression, which looked as though someone had just slapped him.

"Efanna?" he whispered as though she had just returned from the dead. Which, she supposed, it might have looked like. Shit.

"Um, yeah?" she stammered.

She backed away from him slightly, pushing herself into a half sitting position. Her head was still reeling from the mad rush of her Vision and there was a certain look in Loki's eye that made her just a little apprehensive. There was almost a vulnerability there, a slight glint of madness, of crazed determination and anger. He stared at her for a moment, emotions flickering across his face. Efa had never seen him look so open. It didn't last for long though, and after mere seconds his mask once again settled.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his voice low and controlled.

"Um, yeah, I'm fine, why?"

She didn't really think playing innocent would work, but she wasn't going to let go until she knew she had no other choice. As she expected, Loki arched his eyebrow.

"You were unconscious," he told her, his tone carefully measured, "It appears as though you fell down the stairs."

Efanna waved her hand in what she hoped was a flippant way.

"Don't worry, I only tripped on the last step. It was just a small knock on the head, I'm fine. Really."

Loki didn't look convinced.

"You're bleeding."

Oh. Shit. Efa lifted her hand to her head, and sure enough when she brought it back down her fingers were red and sticky. She investigated her scalp, it was tender, and she could feel a slight bump, but there was no sign of a cut or gash, not any more.

"It's just a scratch," she said, trying to keep her tone light, "It's already closed. Nothing to worry about. Head wounds just bleed a lot."

Loki's eyes bored into hers. Now it was obvious she was actually alive anger was steadily growing behind them.

"You're lying," he accused her darkly.

"No," she protested, "I'm not _lying_."

"But you're not telling me the whole truth."

Efanna hesitated. "… No," she admitted.

Loki's eyes flashed and behind her Pip let out a low growl. She wondered what she'd done to make him so angry, surely just falling down the stairs wouldn't provoke such a response, would it?

"Efanna," he started, his voice threatening. Efa didn't need a Vision to tell her what was going to happen next.

"Loki," she pleaded, "Please. I will tell you. I promise. I _will_. Just give me a little more time, okay? I- I'm not ready yet."

o

Loki let out a low growl. How dare she refuse him _again_? And yet her voice sounded so frail, so vulnerable he could feel himself relenting. He stared at her for a long moment, wanting her to feel as uncomfortable as possible, wanting her to know where the _real_ power lay between them. The relief he had felt when she had opened her eyes had shocked him, and quickly faded into anger. How dare such a mortal elicit such a response from him?

When he judged she had suffered enough he grunted and got to his feet. He stepped over her and climbed the stairs, purposefully not looking back, even when he heard her small sigh of relief.

"I guess we're not going for a walk anymore then," her heard her mutter just before he reached the landing.

He felt the corner of his mouth involuntarily curl upwards. After all that, she still worried about something so simple as missing a walk. Once he realised though, he scowled. She was a mere insignificant mortal and he was angry with her. How was it she could manipulate his emotions like this?

Over the next couple of days Efanna was particularly careful around him. Her careless abandon seemed to have disappeared and she watched him constantly with curious, but guarded eyes. After a couple of hours by himself, Loki once again trusted himself in her presence, and their usual relationship continued. Efanna still teased him and was still as lively as ever in their various discussions, but she spent more time watching and thinking and seemed to carefully consider everything he said or did.

Whilst he might have expected to find this irritating, Loki more often found himself intrigued. Every day his mortal companion proved herself more interesting and deep a character and as much as he wanted to be angry with her, he instead found his curiosity growing. Her actions confused him. Whilst he had expected her to be timid, perhaps even afraid of him after his rebuttal of her, she seemed to treat him even more kindly than she had before.

It was two days after he had found her at the foot of the stairs when he entered the kitchen to find her crouched at the door of the fridge, pen in hand.

"Efanna, what are you doing?" he asked, for this seemed strange behaviour even for her.

"Oh, Loki!" she said with a wide smile, "You look sad so I thought I'd draw smiley faces on all the bottle lids to cheer you up. Mam always used to do it when I was little."

Loki was baffled by this answer. He didn't know whether to laugh at the sheer irrationality of her answer or rebuke her for being so patronising.

"I'm not little, Efanna," he reminded her patronisingly, settling for the mid-ground between the two.

"I know," she replied cheerfully, "But it can't hurt can it?

Loki shook his head as she stood up and closed the fridge. He had thought mortals were easy to understand.

"Do you want to try that walk again?" she asked carefully.

Loki got the impression that she was actually _asking_ him this time, and wouldn't nag him to death if he refused. Surprisingly though, he found himself agreeing and Efanna's face lit up.

"Let's go then, shall we?" she said, "My cloak's already downstairs, so, well…" Her voice trailed off and she shrugged.

An hour later the two were perched on rocks looking over the valley. They had walked mostly in silence; Efanna had still bleated to every sheep they passed, but had not babbled as she had previously done. Loki noticed however, that she seemed to relax as the wind whipped her hair about her face, often closing her eyes and spreading her arms as though attempting to embrace it.

"Loki?"

Loki turned his head to find her staring at him curiously.

"What?"

"When was the last time you told someone you loved them?" she asked.

The question threw Loki, so much so that he answered without really thinking about it.

"… Over a year ago now, possibly two. It was the day Thor was to be crowned king, as we waited for the ceremony to start."

"And when was the last time someone told _you_ that they loved you?"

Her words hit Loki like dead weights, even though she had said them so gently.

"I… I don't know."

Efanna looked at him for a long while, a small, sad smile on her face.

"I think that's your problem, Loki," she said, her voice soft, "You think you are unloved. It's what everything was for wasn't it? Asgard, and then even New York. You thought the ones you loved did not love you in return and so sought to force the people of this world to love you by controlling their minds."

Loki could do nothing but stare at her. His anger and incredulity that she was saying such things were overwhelmed by the stronger emotions her words brought about.

"It doesn't work like that you know," she continued sadly, "You can't force someone to love you; you have to love them too."

"That never seemed to work for me in the past," Loki growled, the pain he had kept at bay for so long resurfacing.

"You're wrong. You are loved, Loki. You always have been."

"And how do you know that?" he shouted, standing up and spinning to face her, the pain overcoming him. "You think you know my past? You think you understand my life? The wrongs that have been done to me?"

"I will say nothing now of the past or others, Loki," she answered quite calmly, looking up at him with earnest eyes, "But I can say for certain that you _are_ loved, here and now."

"What makes you think you could possibly know that?" he spat.

"Because _I_ love you, Loki."

This admission stopped Loki in his tracks. He froze and his brow rose. _Did she just say…?_

"You're in love with me?" he asked, his voice betraying his confusion.

"Not _in_ love," she corrected gently, "But I do love you, Loki. There are many more ways to love someone than simply being _in_ love with them."

The emotions coursing though his veins, Loki could not describe. Her words had caused him to feel more conflicted, more vulnerable than he had felt since he had found out the true, monstrous nature of his parentage.

"Even after everything I have done to you? After the number of your people I have killed?" he asked harshly, resorting to anger in this helpless state.

"I can't say I'm happy with everything that you've done," she sighed, her brow creasing. She stood up and walked until she stood just before him, looking up into his eyes.

"But I know, Loki, that everything you've done, you've done because of love, or the lack of it."

Her voice was intense with an emotion Loki hadn't heard addressed to him before.

"You _are_ a good person, Loki, even if that person has been lost in pain. In here-" she placed her gloved hand on his chest "- in the depths of your heart, your soul, you _are_ good. Almost _too_ good. If you hadn't loved so strongly and craved love so much in return, you would never have been driven to do those awful things. And because of that, I love you."

Loki stared at her, his mouth slightly agape. He couldn't understand what he was hearing, let alone how he felt about it. She thought _him_, good? After all he had done, all the pain he had caused? It seemed as though a dreadful hope was swelling though his chest, and a part of him hated himself for it.

"And you think your love is enough to redeem me?" he asked, his voice caught between scorn and the tiniest hope that it might be.

"I don't know. But it's all I can give."

She stepped back, removing her hand and giving him a gentle smile. His chest seemed to burn where she'd touched him, even through the fabric. Her eyes were clear, compassionate and understanding, though how could she possibly understand? Slowly she turned and walked away, as if giving him space for his emotions to unravel.

Loki stood there for some time, watching Efa walk back down the hill with her dog at her heels. He was stunned. For the first time in his life, almost speechless.

"_Because_ I_ love you, Loki."_

The words surged through his veins like poison, reverberating through his head like the blast of an explosion. They were words that, if he was completely, brutally honest with himself, he had longed to hear for years. Centuries even. And now he heard them from such a creature as he had always despised, held in contempt. Yet he could not deny that a part of his soul yearned towards them regardless of their source. Longed to know that some small creature, no matter how worthless, truly did love him.

Such thoughts worried him. He could not allow himself such weakness. And besides, _how_ could she love him? _Him_. He whom she had not even known two weeks; he who had attempted to enslave her world; he who had attacked her, insulted her, rejected her. Such a creature as he could not be loved. Not by one such as her. She had to have been lying, but for what purpose he could not tell.

But what haunted him was that he _knew_ her words had _not_ been a lie. He was Loki Silver-Tongue, the Liesmith. He knew when the truth was being held from him. It would take far more advanced a creature than she to ever deceive him.

But why? Why tell him that she loved him? Why even love him at all?

* * *

**So, poor Loki's been through the emotional mill in this one! But he needs to work though his problems somehow. How do you think I'm doing with him? I didn't think he could really start caring (or at least knowingly caring) about someone after so short a space of time. His problems are so deep rooted that they're going to take an awful lot of unravelling and going through major emotional upheaval tends to make people act like dicks (hence why he is to Efa). I'm determined to stay true to his character as I really push it to the limits, but equally determined (like Efa) that there _is_ a good person in there somewhere. Please let me know how you think I'm doing!**


	10. Answers

**Wow! I have now reached Chapter 10, over 1100 hits, over 20 reviews and 25 followers! This is incredible and I love you all for all the support! THANK YOU!**

o

So, this one's quite emotional, but I think the next one might be even more so! I hope you like it!

A quick note on the mythology:

To my mind Marvel's Loki and Thor are different beings to Mythology's Loki and Thor, and that's how it works in this story. (Here at least) The Asgardians are an alien race (and not actually gods) who once inspired the Nordic people to create the Norse Pantheon and Mythologies, and that Pantheon and those Mythologies are not actually a true representation of Marvel's Asgardians (at least in the movie-verse/this story's version of the movie-verse). I've made a couple of references, but to my mind, and in this story, they're completely different.

o

**Chapter Ten:**

**Answers**

* * *

"Why did you tell me?"

Loki's voice came from behind her, dark and quiet. Efanna turned to find him standing right behind her. There was a vulnerability in his eyes. This was Loki at his most dangerous.

"That I love you? Because it's the truth," she answered. She would need to tread very carefully here.

"But why _tell_ me?" he asked. Somehow Efanna knew he was going to be persistent.

"Because you need to know."

"Why _now_?"

"Because if I'd told you when we first met you would've pummelled me into the wall."

Loki's eyes narrowed and Efanna felt her heart rate increase, just a little.

"You're evading my question," he accused.

"I know."

"Why?"

Efanna closed her eyes. "Because if I answered you, I'd have to tell you my secret," she admitted.

"Then why don't you?"

Efanna's heart was racing now. This was the moment.

"I should."

Loki's eyebrows raised, just a fraction. "But you won't."

Efanna felt like she was going to be sick. This was it. It was time for her to tell him. She knew she should. Knew this was the right thing to do.

Loki was staring at her, waiting for an answer.

"I- …" she stammered.

_Just tell him!_ her head screamed, but her throat was closing up. She felt like she couldn't breathe. Tears were stinging her eyes.

"I- c-can't…"

"Why not?" Loki's response was immediate, flat, unemotional. He simply stood there, watching her break apart.

"Because I'm scared," she whispered.

"Of me?"

Efanna looked up at him. He seemed to tower over her. Never before had he seemed quite this tall.

"Partly."

"What else?"

Loki's eyes were boring into hers as though he was stripping away at her soul.

"What will happen," she whimpered, "If I tell you, then everything will change. I- I'm not ready for that. Not yet."

Loki's eyes demanded more.

"Even just telling you," she breathed, "Just having someone else who _knows_… I- …"

Efanna broke off in a sob and desperately tried to steady her breathing. She felt a hot tear burn its way down her cheek.

_Coward_, her mind told her.

"I will find out, Efanna," Loki told her. His voice was implacable.

"I know," she whispered.

"It will be soon."

"I know."

Loki held her eyes for a moment longer and then turned away. Once he had sat down in the armchair by the fire he resumed his gaze. Efanna sank, shaking, onto the sofa. Pip jumped up and put his head on her lap. Silence reigned for a long time.

"What did you expect me to do?" Loki asked suddenly. His voice had lost its edge now, it sounded more curious than dangerous.

"When?" Efanna asked, her head still spinning.

"When you told me you … loved me."

"Love, Loki, not loved. It's not past tense, I still do," she corrected him gently before thinking about his question.

"I don't really know," she admitted, "I just know I needed to tell you."

Loki's gaze was unfathomable.

"Did you – _do_ you – expect me to say it back?"

Efa almost laughed at _that_ question.

"No," she assured him, "That would have been the only thing you could have done that would have surprised me."

They lapsed into silence and slowly the tension eased out of the room. Eventually Efanna felt calm enough to go back to her painting, leaving Loki sat stewing in his thoughts.

o

Loki barely slept that night, revisiting again and again the conversations of the day before. Efanna's words floated through his head and drifted in and out of his dreams. When he awoke he had come to a decision.

He was no longer content to simply wait for Efanna to confide in him. Idle curiosity was no longer enough. He had to unravel the mysteries behind this strange girl. If she would not tell him then he must resort to other means.

When he entered the kitchen for breakfast Efanna had already been and left, leaving a note to tell him there were cold sausages in the fridge and that he knew where to find her should he need her. Loki knew she would be busy for the rest of the day, her worries about getting her artwork finished on time were starting to show. This gave him the perfect opportunity to ransack her cottage for anything that might shed some light on the questions she posed.

After a day in which he had carefully and discreetly searched every inch of her home, he had found nothing to suggest she was anything but an ordinary, if a little unconventional, mortal. The only interesting thing he had found were scraps of paper on which she had doodled. Most of these were inconsequential, but his eye had been caught by several sketches of him. It was quite obvious that if he were to find anything of any value, it would be within her workshop. And so, Loki settled back into his newly acquired routine and waited for his chance.

He did not have to wait long. It was only four in the afternoon the next day when Efanna appeared in the sitting room covered from head to toe in about fifty different colours of paint.

"I thought the paint was supposed to go on the canvas," Loki commented.

"Most of it did," she said with a grin, "Who says finger painting's only for five year olds? You don't need any hot water tonight do you, Loki? I think I'm going to end up running the tank dry getting all this out!"

With that she bounded up the stairs. Loki waited until he heard the door to the bathroom close, then sprung into action. He set the television playing one of the Doctor Who DVDs so that Efanna would have no reason to question his whereabouts and dashed across to her workshop. It was, as seemed the norm in this miserable country, raining steadily as he crossed the courtyard, but Loki paid it no heed, his mind set on what must be done.

The floor of Efanna's workshop was covered in a fresh coat of multi-coloured paint, as was the wall closest him, on which was propped up a large canvas. This could not draw his attention for long however, and he carefully picked his way around the colourful puddles into the room proper. There was nothing in here which would obviously reveal her secret so Loki ignored anything that was on display and instead headed to investigate that which was hidden from view. His search was not thorough, nor was it as careful as it had been in the cottage, for he knew his time was limited. It did not need to be, however, as it soon became clear to him that the only things stored in her cupboards, shelves and draws were art supplies and odds and ends. Only the last cabinet he checked proved to hold any promise, for it would not yield to his grasp as the others had.

He wasted only a minute contemplating how to open the contraption, before he found a chisel and hammer on her workbench. Had he been in his true form he would not have needed such tools, but he was able to obtain the access he desired within the merest of minutes nonetheless. When he finally prised open the drawers he was greeted by files and files of paper, both bound and loose. It was not quite what he had expected from this world that seemed to rely so much on technology.

He was contemplating where he should start when his eyes were drawn to a specific segment, larger than most, enclosed and labelled. With his name. Loki's brow furrowed as he reached for it. Could the mortal really have so much information on him? His frown deepened as he rifled through the loose sheets of paper, these were mere sketches! Yet when he began to realise what the sketches depicted his heart froze. They were rough yes, by no means masterpieces, but it was clear as glass what they illustrated.

_Bleeding from one eye, Odin All-Father holds a Jötunn babe, as he does so the babe's skin changes from blue to milk, eyes red to green._

This image lay at the very front, followed by many scenes Loki clearly remembered from his childhood.

_Loki and Thor as children, playing war games and hide and seek, Loki casting doubles of himself to confuse his brother or cloaking him in smoke so he could no longer see._

The boys in the pictures matured as his fingers flicked through them.

_Two young men stand, one in green, the other in red, surrounded by a cluster of maidens. Thor is showing off his muscles, Loki aiming to impress with magic._

The next image even managed to bring a blush to Loki's cheeks; that was quite clearly him, and the young woman whom he was with was most obviously Sigyn, a woman he had only bed once. Efanna's drawings were exactly as he remembered. He had not even told Thor of the night he had first claimed a woman. How could Efanna possibly know in such detail such an intimate moment of his life?

Efanna's sketches continued in a similar manner, each one increasing Loki's incredulity and anger. The events of his assent to adulthood were sparsely documented, but from the day of Thor's coronation the number of drawings increased and it seemed there was not an hour of his life which had not been recorded by Efanna's hand. The trip to Jötunheim; Thor's banishment; Odin's revelation of his true nature; his deception and murder of his real father; his fights with Thor; the terrible, agonising rejection and fall. Still the images continued, depicting the horrors of his exile; his wanderings on barren, desolate worlds; the torture he had suffered at the hands of The Other and Thanos; the bargain he had struck to save his pitiful life and gain the only thing which would return it's worth – his revenge. There was not a soul alive, save him, who could give such a complete account of those months and yet here they were, spread over paper before him. Drawn by a mortal's hand.

By now Loki's blood boiled, but he had not yet reached the end. There were pictures yet that showed his arrival on Earth, his capture of the Tesseract, his attack, his defeat. And still beyond that, his arrival in the city of Cardiff; he and Efanna on the top of a mountain, images he recognised now as the time she had told him of her love. Although there were more he had not seen, one image stopped him in his tracks. It depicted him, sat on the floor surrounded by pictures, exactly as he was now. His head shot up to the doorway, the direction from which the image was drawn. There stood Efanna, red hair damp and dripping. Her white eyes watching him with a deep and abiding sadness.

"So, this is how that one turns out," she said softly.

o

It took three shampoos for Efa to clear her hair of the paint it contained. She knew she should probably stop running her hands through it whilst working, or perhaps just tie her hair back, but somehow she knew she never would. Besides, it didn't really matter as long as she managed to get it all out before the hot water ran cold. She could hear Doctor Who running as she got dressed and contemplated watching the rest of it with Loki instead of going straight back to tackle the mess she'd made. She was worried that she was maybe leaving him alone too much; she knew he was vulnerable at the moment, especially after her confession, and she knew that leaving a vulnerable Loki alone to plot wasn't exactly wise. But he was so close to finding her out. Every time they talked he prised a little more information from her. She knew he was doing it, knew she should be more careful, but the joy of being able to _talk_ to someone always overcame her.

She should have just told him. But what would he think of her then? She couldn't lose him. Since he had arrived the loneliness in her heart had somehow seemed to grow. The life she had before been content with, now seemed empty. She craved his company more and more every day and she couldn't lose that now. She couldn't go back to being alone. Without realising he had done so, Loki had claimed Efanna completely. He was the first person, other than her mother, that she had ever _known_. She knew there would one day be others – she had Seen that, but Loki would always be the first. He was the one who had changed her. Any others would just add to what he had started. He had more power to hurt her than he could ever understand.

And she knew how much he would hate her if – _when_ – he found out.

Efanna pressed her hands against her eyes as she tried to calm herself and bring back her normally cheerful attitude. Loki would be able to tell if she seemed out of sorts. That would just make him more suspicious. And she couldn't lose him.

It was only once she'd reached the lounge that she realised his deception. There sat the TV, playing merrily to itself. Pip was stretched out on the sofa. Of course. How could she have been so stupid? She had seen all the signs and chosen to ignore them. Slowly she picked up the remote and silenced the room. She knew where Loki would be. Now was the time to face her fears. To, in all probability, let Loki break her heart.

She took a deep breath and walked over to her workshop, through the rain and the mud. She didn't bother with a coat, nor even shoes. She had to face this now or she never would.

Loki was sat in the far corner, her sketches spread in a circle around him. She could almost feel the anger radiating off him, even though she was actually _living_ this, and not just Seeing it, like last time. As if on cue his green eyes turned up to meet hers. It wasn't just anger they held, but confusion, humiliation and a desperate enquiry. The picture in his hands depicted exactly what was currently playing out.

"So," she said softly, needing to break the heavy silence, "This is how that one turns out."

Loki watched her for a moment more, his brow furrowing and his eyes darkening.

"What are these?" he asked, his voice low and deceptively calm, but Efanna could hear the slight tremble beneath the surface.

"They- It's-," she stumbled, her mind at a loss of how she should explain herself.

"It's your life," she breathed finally.

"I can see that."

His tone would have made even Thor want to run, but Efanna knew she couldn't. Instead she walked towards him, slowly, like one might approach and injured tiger. Which, Efanna supposed, he wasn't all that unlike. When she was perhaps three or four feet from him she slowly sunk to the ground. He watched her intently. She could feel herself beginning to shake. Quickly, Loki's eyes darted to the doorway behind her and she followed his gaze to see Pip nudging his way through the door. A tiny smile broke out on Efanna's face. Even if Loki destroyed her, she would still have Pip. She took a deep breath and turned back to the full force of those eyes.

"Explain," Loki commanded.

Efanna nodded, slowly. Her brain scrambled to find the words in the tumbling whirlwind that was her mind, but she didn't know where to start. She opened her mouth a couple of times but nothing came out.

"Tell me!" Loki insisted, his voice rising.

"I- I don't know where to start," she stammered finally.

"Try the beginning," Loki suggested coldly.

Efanna nodded. She took a deep breath, calming her mind, like her mother had taught her and closed her eyes.

"I was born on Samhain," she began, her voice quiet. She would start from the beginning.

"Samhain, to the ancients, was when one year ended and the next began. On Samhain the veil between worlds is at its thinnest and the past, present and future all blend together. I was born at exactly midnight, the moment when everything reaches its pinnacle. It is neither one time nor the next and instead the moment where everything is one.

"When I was born my eyes were white, and they thought I could not see. But, in fact, their colour, or lack of it, has a different cause. We don't know why, but it was my Mam's thoughts, and now my own, that because of the exact timing of my birth, something … happened. Changed me. That somehow, because I was born into that no-time I am not constrained as all others are by time.

"I have … Visions. I have done all my life. My body shuts down and I See the past, or the future, or the present in a place where I am not. I have no control over these Visions. I don't know when they will strike, or what I will See when I do. Every time they knock me unconscious."

"So you mean-?" Loki interrupted.

"That every time I've 'fallen over' I have, in actuality, had a Vision? Yes."

Loki's eyes flashed. "And these things-" he gestured to the pictures around him "-are what you have Seen?"

"Yes," Efanna replied, "Over the course of my life."

"Why me?" he asked.

"I don't know," she answered, "It's not just you, there are others too; but why, I don't know. I only imagine it's because it is Fated somehow."

"What others?" Loki asked relentlessly.

"You would know them as 'The Avengers'," she told him quietly.

Loki was quiet for a moment, looking from her drawings and back to her. He placed the last of the sketches beside him and turned his gaze to her. His eyes were dangerous now.

"So all this time, you have known everything about my life?" he asked her, his voice dark.

"Not quite everything, there are parts I haven't seen," Efanna began but Loki's look silenced her, "But … yes."

Loki's jaw clenched, as did his fist. His eyes jumped to and from each of hers and his breathing was heavy with a rage he could hardly contain.

"Why did you not tell me?" he roared suddenly, "Why did you lie?"

* * *

**So, thoughts?**


	11. Explanations

**As ever, big thanks to all the lovely people who read and review and follow and favourite this story!**

Another emotional one & quite long too. The secrets out but Loki still has questions… Hope you enjoy!

o

**Chapter Eleven:**

**Explanations**

* * *

"Why did you not tell me?" he roared, "Why did you lie?"

"Because you hate me, Loki!" Efanna shouted, stunning Loki into silence. He had never heard her raise her voice before.

"You hate me," she continued in a whisper, tears falling down her cheeks.

"And that's okay. Because I always knew you were going to. It's a part of who you are and I love you regardless. But I didn't realise how much it would hurt…"

Her voice trailed off in a low sob as tears dropped from her chin and splashed on the floor. Loki could only stare.

"To love someone so completely and be hated in return… But even still. You were here. I could talk to you, laugh with you; even when you attacked me, you were _here_. For so long I've watched the lives of others, had their friendships, their loves so starkly throw into contrast the lack of my own. Even though you hated me, even though it _hurt_, you were still _here_. And I thought… Sweetly, dreadfully, I _hoped_, that maybe you could learn to trust me. Maybe, even if you could never love me that at least one day you might no longer hate me. That maybe, if you could grow to know me without knowing my secret, that when you finally learned of it you might be able to forgive me.

"It was selfish. It was cruel; especially as I know of your past, of the things that had been kept from you then. But _you_ know, Loki, you know what it is to be alone. If I had told you, your hatred of me would have been irrevocable. And I couldn't bear that pain.

"I couldn't make you hate me more than you already do. I couldn't take away that sweet, dreadful, hope of not being alone. I'm sorry."

Silence fell. Efanna looked at him as though he held an axe over her head. As though she fully expected him to swing it for what she had just admitted to. Her pale face was streaked with tears but she made no move to wipe them away.

"The things I have Seen… I know things that I have no right to," she whispered, now looking at the floor, "I never wanted to know them – if I had a choice I wouldn't – but that doesn't absolve me. You have every right to hate me. But I never lied to you. I should have told you, I know I should, but I never lied. I could never have done that to you…"

Her eyes met his again and she looked as though she were breaking apart.

"Loki, you mean so much to me! More than I ever thought you would, even though I've Seen us together. I know what you must think of me but… I- I couldn't bear the thought that I might lose you. I- …

"Loki- I- I'm sorry," she breathed, before slowly standing up.

She took one last look at him, biting her lip in an expression of anguish and then turned and fled. Her dog gave him a long look before he followed his mistress, leaving Loki alone with the images of his life.

For a long while Loki could do nothing but sit there. Her reason had shocked him. He had expected that it might be because she feared his anger, his retaliation, should he find out. That would have been sensible. He wouldn't have been surprised if she had kept her secret purely to infuriate him, to have some power over him, to use it to her advantage, to ridicule him, to abuse him with it.

Never had he expected this.

To keep it from him because she didn't want him to hate her? Because she valued his companionship so much that she feared to lose it? If it had been anyone else these reasons would only have angered him further. Who would want his companionship? Who would fear his hatred for any reason other than the danger it would put them in? But Efanna was right. She hadn't lied to him. Not in the whole time he had known her and not now. She had fully accepted his disregard for her. She had expected him to punish her and saw that as _reasonable_. After everything he had done she truly wanted to gain _his_ forgiveness. She had not even once suggested that he might need to gain _hers_. Somehow, even knowing everything about his life she saw _herself_ as the guilty party.

How?

How could someone see him in such a way? His birth parents had abandoned him. Those who he had once called friend had betrayed him. Those who had raised him had cast him out. There was not a single creature in the universe that wanted him. How could she? If she knew everything about his life, every secret he had tried to keep, every lie he had told, every inadequacy he had tried to hide, every crime he had committed… How could she possibly claim to love him?

And yet she hadn't lied.

Loki's emotions had long since shut down and he now sat in a dazed stupor as thoughts and questions and Efanna's whispered words flew through his head. He didn't know how long he stayed like this until he came to his senses.

He was Loki Silver-Tongue. The betrayed King of Asgard. He should not allow himself to be sent into such a state of confusion by a mere mortal. What she had said had made no sense and so he needed to make sense of it. She had given him a brief explanation, that she had 'visions' which had allowed her to 'see' his past; but this gave no explanation as to why she saw it fit to believe that she loved what every other creature loathed. There was still more she had to tell him. If he was going to understand this situation he must know all there was to know.

He stood up and crossed the room, leaving the pictures of his accursed life. He wanted no reminders of his past. Efanna would not be hard to find. There was nowhere she could run. When he searched the house however, there was no sign of her. He returned to the courtyard, scowling. If she was wandering these wretched hills then finding her would be more difficult. He cast his eyes to the ground, trying to find some sign of the direction she might have taken whilst considering what he knew of her and determining where she was most likely to have gone.

_That tree_, he decided after a moment. The girl seemed to have some strange connection to the plant, though why she felt she could gain comfort from mere vegetation he didn't know. As he made his way across the fields, his strides quick and purposeful, he was fully prepared to once again demand answers from her and not relent until she had told him every last detail. What he found, however made him pause.

Efanna sat, unmoving, at the base of the tree with her forehead resting against the bark. She was completely drenched; where her hair had been damp before, it was now dripping and the thin long-sleeved top and leggings she wore were soaked through. There were streaks of mud across her clothing and her hands and feet were plastered in it. Her dog sat at her back, watching Loki with calm but wary eyes as though warning him against hurting his master any further.

It was a pitiful sight, and for once Loki let pity guide his actions. Besides, he would get no answers from her in this state, and these mortal bodies were so weak that they would both catch their deaths if they remained in this weather for long.

"Efanna," he called, quietly.

Loki heard a pause in her breathing and she slowly turned her head to him. The dreadful mixture of fear and hope in her eyes sickened him.

o

Efanna sat there as Loki simply stared, the pictures of his life creating a wall between them. She couldn't bear the silence. Couldn't bear the way he looked at her. The way he looked so hurt and it was all her fault.

"Loki- I- I'm sorry," she breathed, finishing her lame excuses.

Slowly she got to her feet. He would need space. Time to think things over, come to terms with what she'd just told him. She took one last look at him and what little composure she had left broke. She ran.

She paused briefly se she stepped into the rain, half hoping that he would call her back, tell her he forgave her, that he didn't hate her after all. But of course he didn't, and she immediately hated herself for being so foolish as to have thought that he might. A fresh wave of tears cascaded down her face, mingling with the rain. She started running again, not caring where she went, nor that she was barefoot and that the rain was already plastering her thin clothes to her skin. She just had to get away.

The mud squelched beneath her feet and several times she slipped and fell, but she kept going. She couldn't stop. She just wanted to run until there was nowhere left to run to. Until the world swallowed her up and nothing else mattered. Loki's face haunted her as her breath tore through her lungs. His eyes, so full of anger, and hurt, and confusion, and frustration, and humiliation, and pain. And it was all her fault. She'd wanted to help him. To prove to him and to herself that they were both worthy of a friend. Instead she had ruined her chance. Why couldn't she have just told him?

A small part of her mind whispered that he wouldn't have reacted any better even if she had, but she couldn't face that sort of logic and it was no real comfort to her anyway. She was too overwhelmed with the pain of her loss. The loss of the only person she had ever come close to calling a friend. The loss of the hope that someone might be able to forgive her for her endless intrusion into their lives. All this time she had hoped that with her knowledge she might be able to make a difference. To help. And now she felt that she had failed.

Without knowing it her legs took her to her mother's tree. Her tree. She collapsed at its trunk with a sob and truly let herself wail, not just cry but sob and scream. She rested her head against the bark and felt the tree's Memories trickle though. They were far simpler than those of sentient creatures. Just the flow of water from its roots through its stem, the gentle warmth of sunlight on its leaves, the fleeting touches of sheep, or birds, or insects. Slowly her breathing calmed and she once again cried in silence. She felt Pip nudge her shoulder but she didn't have the strength to respond. He didn't press her and instead lay down behind her, his back pressing against hers.

Slowly Efanna drew a deep shuddering breath. She was alone again. That thought pierced her heart with a hollow ache. She had had her chance and let it pass her by. But she still had Pip. She still had her farm, her art, her sheep, her hens. She had survived like this for ten and a half years and she could still do so now. It didn't matter that Loki hated her, not really. It just hurt.

"Efanna."

Loki's voice almost made her jump. She had not expected him to follow her. His expression was guarded, calculating

"You need to come back inside now," he told her, his voice as careful as his expression.

Numbly she nodded, suddenly realising that she was shaking violently. As she clumsily stood she realised that if she was anyone else she would probably be at risk of pneumonia right now, considering she'd been sat outside in the October rain for considerably longer than was wise without any form of coat. Or shoes. Pip looked up at her, sticking close to her legs, worry written all over his doggy face. She reached one hand down to him and gave the tip of his ear a little fuss. He was absolutely sodden and she suspected she was too. They were going to make one hell of a mess of the floor.

After giving her a long look, Loki set back down the hill. Slowly Efanna followed, finding her shivering limbs were a little unreliable and that her bare feet didn't provide much purchase on the muddy grass. She slipped a couple of times, but managed not to fall over like she had before.

When they finally reached the cottage, Efanna could barely stand she was shaking so strongly. Loki looked her over sceptically before shoving a towel in her arms and grabbing one to dry his own hair. Efanna tried to thank him, but her teeth were chattering so wildly she couldn't get the words out. He watched her silently as she tried to scrub most of the mud from her hands and feet before grabbing another towel and giving Pip a brief rub down. He leaned into her shoulder as she did so and she wrinkled her nose at the wet doggy smell.

When both towels were dirtied beyond further use, Efanna steeled herself to look back at Loki. His face was carefully expressionless and he watched her intently. She tried to say something, but once again the chattering of her teeth got in the way; not that she could think of anything anyway.

"Go and change your clothes," he told her.

Efanna nodded again and went to her bedroom as quickly as she could. She could feel Loki's eyes on her as he followed her through the house, but thankfully he stopped in the lounge. She peeled off her sodden clothes in the bathroom and grabbed another towel, wrapping it around her as she darted to her bedroom, not wanting Loki to catch her undressed when she already felt so vulnerable. Thankfully he was nowhere to be seen but she quickly dried herself properly and re-dressed in the warmest clothes she owned, not putting it past him to barge in should he feel that she was taking too long. He didn't though, and thankfully the majority of the mud had already come off downstairs so she didn't have to worry about dirtying clean clothes.

Her shivering slowly started to calm down, and her mind calmed with it. Loki's response had been better than she'd expected. He hadn't hit her, or strangled her. At least not yet. He'd only even shouted at her once. Slowly she allowed the smallest bit of her former hope trickle back in. Maybe if he would let her explain then she might still have a chance to ease his hatred of her, at least a little. Maybe they might still be able to return to some measure of their former relationship.

o

Loki sighed as he attempted for the third time to light the fire he had prepared in Efanna's grate. This was a task which was far simpler with magic. Finally the kindling caught on his fourth try and he moved back to sit on the armchair that faced the fire, knowing Efanna would need the warmth of the one next to it. She was worrying him. He was well used to mortals looking at him in fear – such a thing was to be expected, encouraged and enjoyed. Efanna, however, looked more in expectation than in fear of pain from him and yet gave no signs of trying to discourage him, nor fighting back, nor even running away. She had been quite eloquent in her assertions that the human race would not simply roll over and let him do what he wanted and yet she appeared to be allowing him to treat her exactly as he pleased. What's more there was a gentle sadness in her eyes whenever she looked at him that he was sure was not in relation to her own state of affairs.

He sat back and watched the flames gently lick the undersides of the logs. Strangely Efanna's dog was doing the same thing. Loki had expected him to follow his master upstairs but instead he had settled himself on the rug and watched him intently at he built the fire. Loki had the strange sensation that he was assessing him somehow.

Efanna descended the stairs just as the first of the logs were beginning to catch. As Loki turned to watch her he noted that she seemed to have regained a measure of her composure. She was no longer shaking, although she looked towards the fire with gratitude, and she seemed to have lost the haunted look about her eyes that had so disturbed him. In short, she once again looked like Efanna, rather than the shivering wreck he had found by the tree.

She gave him a weak smile and hurried to the armchair by the fire, putting the fireguard up and edging the chair closer. She curled herself into a ball, pulling her legs up inside the ridiculously large hooded jumper she was wearing. Once again she had sucked in the bottom corner of her lip as she turned to face him, her gaze apprehensive, but determined.

"Tell me how it works," he said after a moment's contemplation of her.

Efanna looked surprised at his tone; his voice had almost been gentle and it surprised even him. She nodded quickly and then turned to stare into the fire, her brow creasing slightly with concentration. This time, Loki gave her time to frame her response.

"So…" she started, giving him a quick glance, "I have Visions. Like I said before, I don't know why. I just do. Have done all my life, for as long as I can remember."

She paused and tilted her head slightly as she looked at him, once again biting her lip. Loki felt as though she was judging his reaction and kept his face carefully blank.

"I have no control over them," she continued, quietly, "Like I told you before, I don't know when they'll hit me, and every time they knock me unconscious. It's like my body can't cope with two realities and so it shuts off the real one when my Visions come. I never have any idea what I'll see and there's no way I can control that either. It's not like scrying or fortune telling or anything else like that where you ask a question and See something that will answer it. It's more like what I See is being forced on me, like someone else is deciding and then showing me. I wish it wasn't like that, but there's really nothing I can do, I've tried everything I can think of…"

Efanna broke off and looked at him pleadingly, as though begging him to understand and believe that she had not asked to See any of his life. Grudgingly, Loki accepted this. Once again, Efanna was not lying to him. He nodded his head briefly, partly to tell her he understood, partly to tell her to continue. She gave him a small smile as if in thanks.

"As I told you, for some reason these Visions have always centred on a specific set of people. You-" She broke off and gave him an apologetic look. "-Your b- _Thor_; Tony Stark, who you'd know as Iron Man; Steve Rodgers – that's Captain America; Bruce Banner, aka The Hulk; Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton, who you know quite well after you took control of his mind."

She broke off and gave him a reproachful look then. "That's one of the things I'm not particularly happy with you about. But anyway…"

She cast her eyes back to the fire.

"That's pretty much it, apart from myself, and a little bit of my Mam. Occasionally I'll See something where none of you lot are actually involved, but which somehow significantly impacts on your life. It seems to be that I only See the parts of your life that are somehow important, even if I can't really figure out why yet. Thankfully I don't See everything – I don't think I have enough room for an additional seven lives in my head, especially yours and Thor's. The way I see it, it's all very strongly connected to Fate, although I'm not sure if that's something you believe in."

She paused again, watching him as if to see how he was taking this in. Impatiently he waved a hand, telling her to continue.

"I See things in all three states of time – the past, the present and the future – although for a long time I didn't have any way of knowing which one I was Seeing. As I've gotten older, my Visions have become … clearer. I can get a sense of them now, how close they are to happening _now_, or at least _my _now, but it's still very imprecise. Like I can tell if something happened a long time ago, or will happen a long time in the future, or if it was more recent, but unless I See something like a watch, with the date and time on, I don't have any precise notion of when. And because I See so much, in so many different times, my particular notion of when tends to get a little confused. I know of certain things that haven't happened yet, and lots of things that happened ages ago, but I only found out about yesterday. That's probably been the hardest part of being with you all this time, making sure I get my whens in the right order, but at least with you it's generally fairly simple now that Manhattan's over."

"So you know of what will happen in the future?" Loki asked, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees.

"Partly," she answered, carefully, "Because the future hasn't happened yet, none of it is really … _fixed_ … There are still lots of things that could change it that could be done in the present, or the future before that particular future. Every now and then I see something that only seems to have one possibility, and I assume it's because those things are Fated somehow. But generally what I See are just possibilities, lots of different things that could all happen at that particular moment. Sometimes some look more possible than others, but generally they're all equal and all subject to change until someone actually makes a decision that would define that moment. And so I don't really _know_ what will happen until it actually does, just a few of the more probable possibilities, and which one _I'd_ prefer to happen, or not to happen in certain cases. Does that make sense?"

Loki nodded, his agile brain quickly wrapping itself around the concept.

"Can you change these possibilities?" he questioned.

"Sort of. Yes; maybe; no," she answered, vaguely.

"That covers all the options," Loki replied sarcastically. Efanna gave him another small smile.

"Because I don't know which choices will lead to which outcomes there's not really much I can do to alter them," she explained, "If there's something I _really_ don't want to happen, like- … someone getting really hurt … Then I can try and do what I can to make sure other people don't make decisions that would cause that, but I never know whether my interference will cause them to make those decisions in the first place… So it's possible that I could make one possibility more possible than others, but only possible, not certain. And if something is Fated then I don't think there's anything I could do, no matter how hard I tried."

"There were a lot of 'possible's in that explanation," Loki commented dryly.

"One thing that I've learnt with this whole thing, is that everything is possible and nothing is certain, although certainty itself is possible, just as impossibility is possible, but each are only _possible_ and not certain, or impossible… If that makes any sense at all…"

"I think I get the gist of what you are stumbling towards," Loki said slowly, "None of this however, explains why you find it necessary to believe you … love me. I shall accept your reasoning for not telling me this sooner, but I cannot understand it."

Efanna gave him another of her gentle similes.

"I don't suppose you'd accept 'because I just do' as an answer?" she asked.

"No," he answered firmly, his brow furrowing slightly. Surely she did not think she could wriggle out of telling him now?

"It's okay," she placated, "I will tell you. It's just love is a very complicated thing, Loki, and I'm not entirely sure you'd accept any answer I gave you, no matter how complete."

She looked into his eyes then and that gentle sadness once again filled hers. Loki broke eye contact sharply and told her to continue her explanation. Efanna sighed.

"I guess this is the tricky bit … and the bit that you're not going to like …"

Her expression became anxious again, his hard.

"I don't just See things," she admitted, "It's more that I … _experience_ them…"

"Go on," he told her darkly. She sighed again.

"It's not like I'm just watching whatever I See, I also … feel it. I experience the emotions of those I See, and know their thoughts as if they were my own. It's not as strong as it is actually _living_ it of course, but … it's enough. It's enough for me to understand what happened."

Loki sat in stony silence for a while. So she had not only seen his entire life, but also felt his every emotion and heard his every thought. Could he have no secrets from this abominable woman? Was everything that he was to be laid bare in front of her? As her expression grew ever more apprehensive he realised that this was the reason for her comments about 'understanding' and 'knowing' him. This was the reason she treated him with such familiarity and intimacy, even when they had first met.

"So you truly do know everything about me," he muttered darkly.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, bowing her head again.

"You're sorry?" he asked, his tone harsh now, his voice raising, "You're _sorry_? Why do you keep saying that? If what you have said is true then none of this is your fault so why must you feel the need to constantly apologise?"

"Because it still happened! Just because I didn't chose it doesn't mean that it isn't wrong for me to know these things! It doesn't mean that it doesn't upset you! I know things about you and your life that you would never have told me. That you never would have and do not want me to know. Even if that is not my choice I still know! Of course I should have to apologise for this knowledge that I have no right to!"

Loki stared at her incredulously. How could any creature truly be so selfless as to take blame for something that was beyond their control? It was madness! If it had been he who had had this knowledge, through no fault of his own, he would have revelled in it, used it to his advantage and yet she regretted it and still felt bad! Why did she persist in feeling guilty when she had done nothing wrong?

For if she saw herself as guilty for so small a thing what could she possibly think of him, who truly was guilty and of far worse crimes?

He froze as he realised what he had just thought. Had he really worried about how she saw him? Did he? He could not understand how she could possibly love him if everything she had said was true, but did he actually _care_?

No. Such a thing was preposterous, as was the very fact that she believed to love him in the first place. The foolish mortal had obviously just deluded herself, not that it mattered to him anyway.

"Is there anything else you have been hiding from me?" he asked, somewhat coldly.

"Yes…" she replied, in such a small voice and looking so down-heartened that Loki felt his temper drop.

"Tell me," he demanded, but in a far gentler voice.

"It's not just when I get these random Visions that I See things. Also, whenever I touch things with my bare skin I… sort of get access to their memories, or maybe their history would be a better way of putting it. Whenever I touch something I am told, or I See everything that's ever happened to that thing. Physical things though, rather than thoughts or emotions so it's not quite as … _invasive_ as my random ones.

"Again, I can't control it, in that it always happens if I touch something with my bare skin. These don't knock me out, although they kinda shut everything else out for a bit, and if there's a lot to … sort of download, or if there's something particularly violent or traumatic in that thing's past then I can completely lose control of myself until it's over. If I can keep on top of it though, it's barely noticeable, so I try and touch everything at least once a day. And if I keep my skin covered then I only get the Memories of whatever's covering my skin, rather than whatever I'm holding or touching. It happens with everything you see, inanimate objects and plants as well as sentient beings like humans, or, well … Asgardians…"

"So that's why you've always been so careful not to touch me; why you always wear those gloves?" Loki asked.

Efanna nodded. "I won't invade your privacy any more than I can possibly avoid," she said, solemnly.

Loki stared into the fire as he digested this new piece of information.

"Thank you," he said, without really realising it. Efanna didn't respond, but when he looked back at her she looked surprised but enormously grateful for his words.

"Is that all now?" he asked, trying to brush over his moment of weakness.

"Not quite…" Efanna admitted sheepishly, "I have a couple more … abnormalities."

Loki raised his eyebrows. This was certainly not an ordinary human.

"I seem to have this strange ability to heal," Efanna started to explain, "I'm guessing it's so my Visions don't kill me. Like you saw the other day – they can put me in kinda dangerous situations. But my body heals so quickly that it doesn't seem to matter much. The more serious the injury, the faster I seem to heal, but the more energy it seems to take. Like if I get a bruise it'll be gone within a couple of days and I'll barely notice it; but when I fell down the stairs that time, everything healed almost instantly, but I was really tired for hours afterwards."

Loki nodded. This was unusual, but fairly self explanatory and did make some sort of sense.

"Anything else?"

"Just one more thing," she confessed, looking apologetic, "… I can't forget."

She paused then, and looked into the fire, her brow creasing with an enduring pain.

"Ever since I was old enough to properly remember, I haven't been able to forget anything. Every second of my life, I remember every one of them. And that goes for the things I've Seen too…"

Her voice became quiet and the pain in her eyes grew. Loki thought back to the pictures of his life. The things she had drawn there were mostly memories he did not wish to recall himself. If she, a mere human, had experienced, even in a lesser form, the pains of his past and was now incapable of forgetting them…

"It's why I draw those pictures," she whispered, "To sort it all out. Stop my head from imploding. The important parts of people lives – certainly the people I See… they're almost always painful… It's a way to help me cope. I still can't forget them, but at least I don't have to remember them _all_ the time…"

* * *

**Okay, what d'you think? This one was quite hard to write as it was a massive emotional rollercoaster and Loki in particular kept switching from head to heart and back again. I hope I did okay!**


	12. Nightmares

**Massive thanks to all my readers and reviewers and all that, particularly _SakuM183_ as I couldn't PM you!**

o

I actually really like this chapter, which makes me even more nervous posting it in case you lot don't! But hopefully you will!

o

_To any Americans reading this!_

_I have just realised that I know virtually NOTHING about American culture. Seeing as The Avengers are going to pop up sometime within the relatively near future in this story, at which point Efa and Loki shall be moving away from Wales, this is a problem. So if any of you lovely people would be kind enough to give me a lesson in American culture: slang, common brands of food & chocolate & stuff like that, national holidays (particularly ones in November and December (although obviously I know about Christmas – but still, is turkey big in America for Christmas or do you only have that at Thanksgiving? (which I also know nothing about!))), popular TV shows that are actually on at the moment (we get some over here, but normally ages after I think), words that are different (like jam/jelly, sofa/couch those sorts of things), stuff like that. That would be amazingly helpful of you and make sure that when the setting moves to American soil that it doesn't just fall apart. Somehow I just don't really trust Wikipedia, and things are always more authentic when they come from a real person. There'll still be a few more chapters in good old Wales, but I thought I ought to ask in advance so I don't end up delaying a chapter with mad research! If you want to help me out then give me a PM, massive thanks in advance if you do!_

o

**Chapter 12:**

**Nightmares**

* * *

_The small redheaded girl wakes slowly from her dreams in a small, deep green room with a slanted ceiling. She stays deep in thought for a moment before realisation dawns on her face. She remembers what the night was due to bring. A dreadful fear grows on her face._

_Slowly she turns to the woman beside her. She is in her mid-late thirties, but looks much younger. Mother and daughter share the same wild, red hair. Her face is calm and peaceful._

_She is dead._

_Efanna reaches a hand to her mother's cold face and tears spill from her eyes._

_Tony Stark sits at the table as Nick Fury drones on, but he doesn't hear the Director's words. The harsh reality of what has happened is hitting him and he can't deal with it._

"_Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea, in heroes."_

_It's too much for him and he stands up quickly, leaving the room before he falls apart._

_Steve Rodgers sits in the middle of a destroyed bar, drinking shot after shot but still stone cold sober. His mind replays, over and over, the moment when the metal bar peeled away and his oldest friend fell into the snowy abyss of the mountain pass. It was all his fault. How could he move on from here?_

_Bruce Banner sits in a cave, a long way from any form of civilisation. He clothes are tattered and dirty. He is shaking and rocking backward and forward. Every now and then he jerks his head and mutters as though trying to shake something off. He can feel the beast clawing away inside of him, struggling to escape, to be let loose. There's nothing he can do. There will be no end to this._

_On the rock, at his feet sits a gun._

_Slowly he reaches one shaking hand towards it and raises it to his mouth._

_Loki hangs off the splintered end of the Bifrost, grasping onto his father's great spear. He looks past Thor to Odin and begs him to understand. He had the power. He had the strength. He _could_ prove himself a worthy son._

"_No, Loki."_

_The words cut into his soul and all hope is lost. He is, and forever will be, a monster. Hated. Shunned. Feared. There is no place for him here. The love he has always sought has been denied. He doesn't hear his not-brother's anguished cry._

_His heart breaks and he lets go._

_The radio cuts out and Steve Rodgers takes one last look at the photo of Peggy before the plane crashes into the ice and everything goes dark. He knows he'll never get to that dance, but his last thoughts are of her._

_Loki lands face first on the rock, bruised, battered and exhausted. Slowly he raises his head to look at this newest of worlds. He hopes it is more habitable than the last as he can feel the last of his magic leave him after his desperate relocation. In one hand he grips the curved golden horn of his helmet, the last reminder of his previous life._

_Suddenly a boot connects harshly with his abdomen. Normally he would not even feel such a blow but he is already weak from months of pain, fatigue, starvation and thirst. His attacker kicks him again and rough, too-many-fingered hands grab him by the shoulders and pull his head towards their owner. Loki's vision swims but he can just make out a hooded figure with blue skin and red teeth. Behind him looms a tall figure, shrouded in shadow who laughs menacingly. Then there is a sharp pain in Loki's skull and he loses consciousness._

_Tony Stark's head is roughly shoved into a trough of icy water and held there until black spots begin to cloud his vision. When they drag him back out he barely has a chance to grasp the shortest of breaths before he's plunged back in._

_A tall dark-haired man leans over the small redheaded woman he has pushed back over her desk. He has a knife to her throat and she is babbling hurriedly in Welsh._

"_Don't think that's going to help you Doctor Bowen," he growls with a cruel smile before pushing a button on his earpiece which begins to translate the woman's words. When he discovers she is in fact calling for help and describing everything she can about her attacker, he snarls and slaps her across the face, leaving a trail of blood to trickle down her neck._

"_You don't think your precious S.H.E.I.L.D. are going to get to you before I get what I want, do you?" he sneered, grasping her jaw firmly and letting the knife gently cut into her skin._

"_Now why don't you just tell me, before this gets unpleasant?"_

_She spits in his face._

_The man shoves her further onto the desk with an ugly gleam in his eyes._

"_You asked for it, sweetheart," he mutters darkly._

_Efanna knows what happens next and she thrashes against the confines of her dreams, screaming for it to be over, for her to wake up. She doesn't want to see this again._

A muffled scream echoed from Efanna's mouth as eyes snapped open, her heart pounding and her head spinning. It took her a couple of minutes to remember that she was in her bed, she was safe, none of that was happening. At least not now. But the images raced around her head and she couldn't get them out. _The kick, the knife, the fall, the blood, the gun, the fear, the ice_.

She shook her head violently and threw back her covers, virtually jumping out of bed. It was too much. Emotion was coursing through her veins. She was overflowing with it. She needed to get it out.

She grabbed her hoodie, some leggings and a pair of socks, it was cold outside but right now she couldn't give a damn. As a last minute impulse she grabbed a scrap of paper and a pen, scribbling a note to Loki which she left on the kitchen table before pulling on her boots and disappearing into the night.

o

Loki's sleep was disturbed that night. His mind was racing after the revelations of the previous day, and, even more unsettlingly, his emotions were too. When finally he was able to catch a few minutes of sleep, his dreams were haunted by the images drawn in Efanna's hand, memories resurfacing that he had long kept hidden. He tossed and turned restlessly, wishing he was able to enchant himself into a blissful, dreamless slumber.

It was somewhere between the fourth and fifth hours of the morning, whilst Loki lay awake, trying to push his thoughts into some semblance of order, that he heard Efanna. Although his hearing was, in this form, nowhere near as sharp as he was used to, he had made mental adjustments to account for it. He now paid attention to the tiniest of noises. Whilst before they would have been nothing more than the crawling of an insect or the barest whispers of wind, now they belonged to more significant sources. Although he could make out no words, his ears could identify this new murmur as Efanna's voice. He let his thoughts focus on that for a while, glad for any distraction from the confusion of his current mental state.

Gradually her voice rose and Loki heard her scream and cry several times before the noise was suddenly muffled and he assumed she must have woken up. So he was not the only one having trouble sleeping. He huffed angrily, turning onto his side and punching his pillow, his thoughts once again turning to the dilemma of his host; what she knew of his life, what he was to do with her now and the disturbing ways in which her knowledge was affecting him.

The gentle thudding of her feet past his bedroom once again disturbed him, and only seconds later he heard the clunk of the door to the courtyard swinging closed. He deemed this sufficiently unusual to serve as an excuse to abandon his attempts at sleep, for if Efanna was allowed to give up so simply then he surely had the same privilege.

_Loki,_

_Gone for a walk. Be back when I'm back._

_E x_

Several minutes later Loki stood in the dark kitchen examining Efanna's note by the pale light of the moon which shone through the window. Her usually elegant handwriting was shaky and such short sentences were a stark contrast to the energetic way she normally phrased things, even in letters. His brow furrowed and her dog once again shoved his cold nose into Loki's palm and whined.

"What?" Loki growled, annoyed that he had been reduced to _talking_ to the damn beast.

The dog huffed and trotted over to the door, jumping up to pull the handle and pushing it open with his nose. Then he turned back to Loki and whined again. Loki scowled. So he was to be lead on some useless errand by the animal? He knew the idiotic beast would not give up until he had done what he wanted him to, he was far too much like his owner in that respect.

He sighed and followed the damn creature, pulling on his boots whilst it jumped up to open the outside door.

"If you lead me to the chickens again I shall rip your fur out, hair by hair," he muttered darkly. The dog just stared at him and whined again as though to tell him to hurry up.

Thankfully the creature lead Loki away from the barns, over the fields and up the hills. As their journey lengthened, Loki began to wonder where the wretched mutt was taking him, but he trotted ahead confidently, not faltering once and checking over his shoulder every few minutes to ensure Loki was keeping pace.

Eventually the dog slowed ahead of him and Loki scanned the dark landscape to see what their quarry was. He spotted Efanna by the tangled mess of curls which were spread behind her in the breeze, bleached of all colour in the pallid moonlight. She was sat atop a large rock, her dog now at her feet, though she made no move to greet it. Indeed she made no move at all, even as Loki trampled his way across the wild grasses towards her, even though he was by no means quiet. She simply sat, silently, her back ramrod straight, staring into the valley below her.

He called her name as he neared her, but got no response. It was not until he had reached her edge of the great rock she sat on that he was able to persuade her to acknowledge his presence.

"Efanna," he said, his voice low but stern, not appreciating being ignored.

Slowly she turned her head to his, her white eyes seeming to glow in the darkness. For once the night sky was clear and the light of the myriad stars and waning moon were reflected silver in the glistening tracks that crossed her cheeks. As she looked up at him, two more tears spilled from her eyes in quick succession; but she paid them no heed, made no move to wipe them away, just let them follow the trails of their predecessors across her face until they slowly fell from her chin.

Loki didn't know what to do. The Asgardians were predominantly a martial race; strong, proud and focussed. Even the women seldom cried, not even at the passing of a loved one; for it was seen as a sign of respect to those who had passed to show strength and resilience in mourning. The only tears he had seen in his life were those of petulant children or the absurd dramatics of jilted lovers; both of which were loud and extravagant, meant to draw attention and manipulate others.

Efanna, however, simply sat there, almost as though she were leaking. No sobs racked her body, nor cries escaped her mouth. She did not shout, nor scream, nor flail her arms and bang her fists. She made no demands, nor pleaded for comfort. She simply allowed her tears to flow from her eyes as she stared at him in indescribable anguish.

Loki didn't have the slightest idea what to do.

"Efanna?" he asked, hesitantly.

He hoped she might scream at him like the courtiers he used to bed and then ignore, purely to infuriate them; or cling to him desperately as the maidens whom Thor had treated in the same way might, hoping that they might gain comfort in the second brother's embrace. Then at least he would have some experience to draw upon, even if he felt that it would be of little use with this particular woman. Instead Efanna simply blinked, slowly, allowing another couple of tears to escape the confines of her watery eyes. Then she steadily turned her gaze back to the moonlit valley below.

Loki had never felt so utterly awkward in his entire life.

He scowled down at her dog, simply to have something to do, wondering why the damn beast had brought him here. Silence, which he usually found a comfort, here unnerved him. A part of him wished to simply turn around and return to bed, where the tumult of his mind no longer seemed such a chore; but his pride was too strong to allow him to run from anything, even a crying girl.

Thus it was that he tentatively and clumsily managed to ask her what was wrong.

She turned to him again and the pain in her eyes instantly sobered him. Such pain should not be present in one so young and innocent. Looking into the depths of her eyes seemed to evoke the deepest, unrelenting, soul destroying agony which was locked far within his own, blackened, heart. That such an emotion should abide within such a lively and seemingly carefree creature seemed indecent somehow.

"Efanna?" he asked again, without realising it, his voice was tinted with concern.

"There are many things I wish I could forget," she replied, finally. Her voice was calm but sounded dead. Each word she uttered was clipped and precise and spoken in a monotone.

She turned back to the view.

"I am not always successful in keeping them from my mind. There are times when they overwhelm me and I must allow them to break free lest I am destroyed utterly by them. Don't worry. I'm used to it by now."

The implacable acceptance in her voice moved Loki more than anything else could have. He knew of at least some of the horrors she was forced to remember. He had never been able to so calmly allow them to exist. They had driven him to the ends of his sanity. Caused him to take the lives of hundreds of beings and destroy those of countless others whom he had not been able to kill. And Efanna just sat there and cried.

It was at this moment that his opinion of her subtly, and yet profoundly, changed. He was no longer angry with her for Seeing his life. No longer was she a mere mortal who held no meaning and no worth. This was the moment that she became a person and not a creature. It was not to say that he viewed her as his equal, but no longer did she exist so far beneath him as to be insignificant.

Slowly he sat himself next to her and together they watched in silence as the steely light of dawn slowly coloured the sky. As colour seeped into the world around them, Loki had to admit that Midgard was not wholly without beauty. Mist filled the valley beneath them, swirling slowly, yet the air was crisp and clear at their altitude. Eventually Efanna took a deep breath and wiped her face with the sleeve of her hoodie. She hopped off the rock and walked forward a few steps, reaching up onto her toes as though she might dive into the sea of fog beneath them.

Loki moved to stand beside her as the sun began to crest the horizon and she turned to face him, her hair fanning out behind her, caught by the wind. Her white eyes held his green ones and for a moment there passed between them a shared understanding of pain and suffering to immense to describe. The air between them crackled and seemed so full of emotion as to almost be alive. They stayed like that for a moment, simply standing, staring, and _feeling_, as the bright light of a new day slowly crept across their skin.

"I don't hate you," Loki said quietly.

Efanna's eyes widened with a look of impossible hope.

"What?" she breathed.

"You heard me, I'm not saying it again," he huffed, turning his head away.

"You don't hate me?" she asked, slowly, as if she couldn't believe what he'd said, "Really?"

"I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it," Loki said irritably, turning back to face her.

The look on Efanna's face was one of such pure and uninhibited joy that it managed to soften even Loki's hard gaze. A smile spread over her face, slowly as if it feared that if it moved to quickly the moment would disappear and Loki would take his statement back. When it became clear, however, that he wasn't going to, her smile rivalled the sun. Loki wondered at her. How could so simple a statement, not admitting love, nor even claiming fondness of any sort – merely attesting a lack of dislike – cause so much happiness?

"Arms out," Efanna told him suddenly.

Loki looked at her in confusion.

"What?"

"Arms out," she repeated, holding her arms out beside her at her shoulders in demonstration.

Loki raised one eyebrow but complied, wondering what this mad, confusing girl was going to do next. He was still surprised however, when Efa stepped towards him and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his chest. He froze, feeling a fool standing as though trying to impersonate a tree with her hugging his middle, wondering whether he was supposed to hug her back.

"Thank you," she whispered into his chest and stood back before he was able to do anything else.

Slowly Loki lowered his arms and looked at her peculiarly. A fresh tear was snaking its way down her cheek.

"I thought that would make you happy?" he asked, even more confused now by this strange woman. She simply smiled at him, as gently as she always did.

"There are more reasons for crying than just being sad, Loki," she told him, "Many more."

o

Loki looked at her like she was mad which made her giggle lightly. Evidently he had never seen happy tears before. The poor thing was so emotionally incompetent that Efa was amazed he hadn't simply ran as fast as his long legs would carry him when he'd found her during the night. But she was glad he hadn't.

He didn't hate her.

The thought made her chest swell as though someone had just filled it with helium and she couldn't help but grin. Loki didn't hate her. _Loki_ didn't hate her. She was probably the only human in the universe who could say that. She was no longer alone. It was currently taking every ounce of self-restraint she had not to simply jump on him and hug him until he smiled too. But she didn't have her gloves on and Loki had already made massive leaps this morning, one more might push him over the edge.

Instead she bent down and hugged Pip instead, who'd come to stand between them, looking particularly smug for some reason. As she wrapped her hands though his fur she Saw that he'd led Loki here, and for that she gave him a little kiss on the muzzle before standing up again.

"Come on, let's get back before I freeze," she said, pulling her arms inside her hoodie as it suddenly dawned on her just how cold she really was. She really should have more sense than to sit outside for half the night without more than a hoodie on. But then it seemed there were a lot of things she should probably have more sense than to do.

Efa gave Loki a smile and started past him, knowing he'd follow when he wanted. She'd not gone more than a few steps before she was surprised by a heavy warmth that settled on her shoulders. She whipped her head around to see that Loki had taken off his long leather coat and draped it over her.

"But-" she started to protest in confusion before he interrupted her.

"I'm not cold. You are," he explained before striding past her.

"Are you coming?" he asked over his shoulder as he realised she hadn't yet moved.

For a moment, Efanna was too shocked to move, but she recognised the little glint in Loki's eye that warned her not to argue. So she pulled her arms inside the sleeves (from which her hands didn't emerge) and stumbled after him, trying not to trip as the ends of the coat dragged slightly along the floor.

"You, are _huge_," she said as she caught him up. He raised his eyebrows at her and smirked.

"Not in a bad way of course," she assured him, "I mean there's no way you're anywhere _near_ fat, you skinny little thing. But you are _really_ tall. I feel like I'm playing dress up with Mam's clothes, only Mam's clothes actually fit me now."

Loki shook his head at her, his expression caught between being amused and cynical. Efa just poked her tongue out at him, feeling happier than she had done in years.

* * *

**So do you like it? I figured Loki would be just as helpless as any other male when it comes to dealing with crying women (if you are male and are actually competent at dealing with crying women then you deserve a medal, as believe me, most are not!), and I thought it was kinda fun putting him in that situation, whilst at the same time making some fairly important headway in their relationship. This is one of the scenes I had planned out right from the very beginning, so it's very strange to actually be writing and posting it! I do hope you liked it! Let me know!**


	13. Arguments

**Thanks again to all my amazing readers! Particularly for the help with American culture! And again to _SakuM183_, I try to reply to every review I get via PM but you've got PMs blocked, so I'll just have to say thanks here again!**

o

Some more time jumps in this chapter :] If anyone's interested the story started on Friday 21st September 2012, which is the Autumn Equinox. Loki then found out Efanna's secret on the 5th October. This chapter is set during mid-October, roughly 15th-19th. I wanted to make sure that there was enough time for Loki and Efa's relationship to mature believably, and I'm setting the story around several events on the Pagan Wheel of the Year – it starts on the Autumn Equinox, and next is Samhain, which is Efa's birthday. I've made up a whole little calendar which I'm scribbling on to make sure I'm covering the required time properly! :D

o

**Chapter Thirteen:**

**Arguments**

* * *

Loki looked up from the eggs he was attempting to crack as he heard a thud from the room next door. Now that he was aware of Efanna's secret he was amazed that she'd been able to keep it from him for so long. At least twice a day he would enter a room to find her sprawled on the floor, or make a comment only for her not to respond as she was slumped where she sat, dead to the world. He noted that she was spending far more time with him since her revelation, and now suspected that she had been avoiding him before in order to hide her many collapses.

She did claim, however, that her Visions were becoming more frequent than was usual, and Loki thought there may be other reasons for the increase in her company. Since he had told her that he did not hate her, her manner had become even more open and friendly than it had been before. She talked constantly, asking him question upon question about Asgard and the other realms, his past, his magic. There were, of course, times when Loki found this irritating, and her ceaseless questioning had often been the cause of bickering and petty arguments; but she seemed to have enough sense, or knowledge of him, to pick up on any dangerous subjects and carefully avoid them in future.

Annoying as it could be, Loki found that Efa's irrepressible interest was infectious, even flattering. She could listen to him talk for literally hours without the slightest hint of boredom, asking endless questions from the laughably obvious to the obscure and insightful. Loki had never before had so eager an audience, and his nature was such that he could not resist it for long. Whilst Asgard was indeed home to scholars and philosophists of great repute, pursuits of the mind were seen as something one undertook after age had stripped away prowess in more physical achievements. For one so young as he to prefer to spend his time immersed in books and learning rather than training and competing in various athletic activities was seen as peculiar and unbecoming. And so, for him to have someone who was to all intents and purposes around his own (comparative) age be interested in his studies and his knowledge was more refreshing than he would have believed.

Efanna's mind was quick and her Visions of his life had given her insight and knowledge that went far beyond any other mortal. She quickly grasped any concepts he introduced and it had not been long before they had begun having such intricate discussions as he had not enjoyed in years. The biggest surprise however, was when she had reprimanded him for voicing a particularly vulgar curse in Asgardian, revealing that she understood the language. When he had questioned her about this, her response had been as flippant and blasé as it often was, asking how else she was to have understood what had transpired in her Visions of his life if she didn't know his native tongue? However it became apparent that whilst she might be able to understand Asgardian, she was not entirely able to speak it. Her accent had been so entirely atrocious that Loki had immediately scorned and corrected her, which had led to Efa nagging him until he agreed to teach her. They now spent at least an hour every day conversing in his native speech, although he often winced as there was a particular set of sounds that she continued to butcher. Despite this, Loki was forced to admit that he found it comforting somehow to speak in his mother tongue, even if it was not the language that, biologically, he should have been raised using.

He looked back at the eggs, a smirk forming on his face as he found not a trace of shell within the mug he was cracking them into. In return for teaching her his language, Efa had insisted that she teach him how to cook. At first Loki had resisted learning a skill only becoming of servants, but he did have to admit that it was a fairly useful thing to know. He was not quite so patient a student as Efanna however, so her lessons in food preparation ended in arguments far more than those of his in language.

"Yay! No more eggs being thrown on the floor in frustration!" Efa called from the doorway, seeing the smirk on his face.

Loki chose to ignore that statement and instead turned to question her.

"What did you See?"

"Nothing much," she answered, evasively as always. Loki sighed in frustration.

"Past, present or future?" he asked adamantly.

Efa collapsed onto a chair and rubbed her shoulder painfully, looking at him as though assessing how persistent he was going to be.

"Future," she answered finally, giving in.

"And who did you see?"

Efanna paused before she answered, "…You."

Loki's eyes narrowed.

"If it was me you Saw I believe I have a right to know," he told her sternly.

"Yeah, but you're not going to like it," Efa replied, making a face.

Loki simply stared at her until she gave in again. No one could endure such a look for long.

"Fine," she sighed, "You were stood surrounded by a freezing mist. There were … creatures of some sort shrouded by it. Forms or shapes that I couldn't quite make out."

Loki's brow furrowed. It seemed an odd thing for her to be so reluctant to tell him.

"Why would I be unhappy to hear that?" he questioned suspiciously.

"Because you were blue," Efanna answered flatly, watching his face intently as his expression hardened.

Well that explained it. Loki was well aware that Efa had Seen his Jötunn form already, but he did not like the idea of anyone knowing what he looked like as the monster that he was. His jaw clenched and he stared at her harshly as though daring her to comment. She sighed at him.

"You know I don't care what you look like, Loki," she said, "I love you regardless."

"How could you possibly love so despicable a creature?" he asked bitterly, scowling.

"Because it's you, Loki," she answered irrationally. He still didn't understand why she would love him in the first place.

"Efa, I'm an Frost Giant," he reminded her, crossing his arms.

"Yeah? Well I'm ginger," she countered, standing up to face him.

"What effect does your hair colour have on who you are?" he asked, angered at her flippant response.

"Exactly!" she cried, "Absolutely nothing! Just like occasionally having blue skin has absolutely no effect on who _you_ are!"

"Don't be so obtuse," he spat, "Frost Giants are monsters; vile, disgusting creatures that are little more than beasts, suitable for nothing more than slaughter."

"And that is how you see yourself is it?" Efa asked, one brow raised.

"It is what any Asgardian knows, what they are taught from childhood. What _I_ was taught whilst Odin neglected to tell me that I was the very monster I was always told to hate."

His voice had risen to a shout now, but Efanna didn't back down in the slightest.

"Well that's Odin's problem and not yours," she told him sternly.

"It does not change what I am."

"So that's what you want to believe is it? That you're a monster who is hated by everyone?"

"It is the truth," he stated shortly as Efanna looked profoundly sceptical, "I am a disgrace to every race. My birth parents abandoned me and Odin only kept me as part of his damned _politics_. There is no reason for anyone to see any worth in my existence."

"Bollocks!" Efa cried, vigorously, "That's complete and utter bullshit, Loki, and you know it."

"Do I?" he asked, his tone dark as he took a step towards her, pulling himself up to his full height, fully prepared to teach this preposterous girl the truth of the matter. He was unlovable, he had been taught that the hard way.

"Well if you don't already then I'm damn well going to make sure you do!" she told him obstinately, "_What_ you are doesn't have any effect on _who_ you are. I couldn't care less if you're Jötunn, Asgardian, Human, or even, I don't know, some super intelligent space fish or something! You are what you _choose_ to be, Loki! If you're the monster that parents tell their children about at night then it's because you've _made_ yourself one, not because you were born a Frost Giant! And if you want to be something different then you can choose to be, simple as that. It's our actions that make us who we are, Loki, our choices, not what species our parents were!"

"If that's the case then you should have even more reason to call me monster!" Loki roared, "I've destroyed your cities, killed hundreds of your people, attempted to obliterate an entire race! If that does not prove that I am the monster I was born as, then what will? If I were to murder you, would you then accept my true nature?"

Efanna threw her hands in the air in frustration, as irrationally intent as ever on trying to prove him _good_.

"Loki, you were only driven to those actions because in that messed up mind of yours you thought it was the only way to gain acceptance! You acted like a monster because you _believed_ that's what you were. But you're _not_, not inside, not in your heart, nor in your soul. That is _not_ your true nature! It's something that pain and madness caused. Something you can come back from, something you can prove you are better than!"

Loki was breathing heavily, fists clenched so hard his fingernails were cutting into his palm. How could she truly believe such things? How could she think him capable of redemption after all he had done? How could she think him worthy of it? Why must she constantly argue for the existence of good in him when every other being was so convinced that it did not exist?

"Do you _want_ to be a monster, Loki?" she asked quietly, stepping towards him and looking straight into his eyes, "Or do you want to prove that you're the man I know you are?"

o

Loki was silent and as Efanna stared into his eyes she could see the pain and the conflict behind them. His desperate need to know who and what he was, and his equally desperate desire to be accepted, to belong. The silence stretched on and she knew he would be incapable of answering her question, but that very fact was a step in the right direction. If he truly believed himself to be everything he claimed then he would not have hesitated and she would most likely be dead on the floor.

Slowly she reached up one gloved hand and placed it on his cheek. His expression immediately turned to shock at such a gentle and intimate touch.

"You're just going to have to get used to the fact that someone damn well loves you, Loki," she told him calmly, "And there's nothing you can do to change that, so stop being so stubborn and accept it already."

There was a long silence.

"_You_ are hardly the one to lecture me about stubbornness," he said slowly and Efa knew that she had won this particular argument. She smiled and stepped back, allowing him some space.

"Yeah well, I'm only stubborn when it's good for me, _you're_ the one whose stubbornness is self-destructive," she retorted, poking her tongue out at him.

Loki stared at her for a long moment before slowly shaking his head, as if in disbelief.

"You are the single most absurd creature I have ever met," he told her.

"I shall take that as a compliment," she replied cheerfully.

Loki was more moody than normal over the next few days and Efanna suspected that his internal conflict was running on full thrusters. He started arguments more often and his snarky comments and insults grew gradually more and more personal and, well, insulting. It was her opinion that he was testing her, pushing her to the limits of her belief in him and seeing if she would snap. It was so deeply ingrained in his mind that everyone hated him that Efa wasn't at all surprised that it was taking him a while to get used to the fact that someone didn't. Although by her nature, Efanna was a very forgiving person, there were times when even she lost her patience. Loki was, after all, very good at infuriating people when he chose to be.

o

Loki stood at the mantelpiece in the sitting room looking at the few photos that were arranged there. They were all of a fairly young woman with wild hair that matched Efanna's; in several of them Efanna herself was pictured, wound within this woman's arms.

"You look very like your mother," he commented as he watched Efa descend the stairs in the mirror which hung above the fire. She shrugged in response.

"I wonder what your father would say, should he meet you?"

He watched as Efa's jaw clenched and hid the smirk that he could feel tugging at his lips. Finally, she had reacted to something.

"Probably nothing pleasant," she said stiffly, "That's if he even recognised me at all."

"I can see why he was attracted to your mother," Loki continued ruthlessly, fuelled by Efanna's strained tone, "Yet I can understand why she was incapable of holding him down. I wonder if you shall face the same problem?"

He turned to better view her response, but was met with a strong right hook which collided squarely with his jaw.

"Do not talk to me about that bastard," Efanna warned, her voice low, "And do not mention him in the same sentence as my Mam again."

Loki raised his eyebrows in surprise, rubbing his jaw. This was more of a response than he had expected and she had hit him remarkably hard. He couldn't help but grin though. Perhaps now she would understand that he was not to be loved.

"Well well," he muttered, "Hit a soft spot have we?"

"You're not the only one with daddy issues, Loki."

The grin on Loki's face was instantly replaced with a scowl.

"You think your problems with your father can truly rival _mine_?" he asked contemptuously. How dare she trivialise the injustices of his past to the level of mere mortals? As he glared at her however, her own eyes only hardened.

"Well let's talk that through shall we?" she retorted hotly, "Who d'you want to start with, the Frost Giant who abandoned you, or the Asgardian who lied to you?"

At this point, Loki lost it. He forgot that he had been aiming to provoke Efanna, having completely overlooked the fact that she might retaliate with her own insults. She had so calmly accepted all his previous attempts to anger or offend her that, were he in a more calm state of mind, he might have been interested by the sudden change in her response. He was not however, so instead he returned her blow with one of equal force.

Things pretty much went downhill from there.

The fight was brutal, but well thought out. Both parties were angry enough to have been pushed to this point, but neither so much so that they let it overwhelm their actions. Loki knew he was unable to aim for Efanna's face, lest their skin touch, but as she was wearing her gloves, she did not have the same restriction. He was surprised, however, at her combat style, and skill. As he was in mortal form they were fairly evenly matched; he was a little stronger than her, but she a little faster. They fought in a similar way, with their minds rather than their muscles. Slowly, they circled each other in the small room, assessing their actions, anticipating their next moves. The blows that were landed were few, but perfectly aimed. To an onlooker they might have appeared almost to be dancing they so perfectly complimented each other's actions. Neither would allow the other to strike if in doing so it did not gain them an advantage of some sort, otherwise they would spiral and dodge only to return, face to face, searching for any opportunity or weakness.

They continued like this for several minutes until, with a low kick, Loki swept Efanna's legs from beneath her and she landed with a sickening crack as her head hit the corner of the coffee table. The noise brought Loki out of his rage and he hesitated for a moment, which Efanna used to roll and knock his own legs out from under him. He was more fortunate in his landing, his head being cushioned by the sofa as he fell, but Efa had quickly leapt from the floor to stand above him, one foot on his chest, both of them breathing heavily.

"Uh, Efanna? You do realise you're bleeding, don't you?" Loki pointed out, after his temper had sufficiently settled.

"Of course I do, I still feel pain you know and that bloody hurt," she snapped at him, "Are we done here?"

Loki considered the situation, Efanna's obvious injury and his less-than-ideal position, before slowly giving his agreement.

"Good," she huffed.

She removed her foot from his chest and reached up to the back of her head, wincing slightly. Loki pushed himself up and collapsed onto the sofa, suddenly becoming aware of several of his own aches and pains. Mortal bodies were certainly a lot less resilient than Asgardian or Jötunn ones.

"Are you alright?" he asked, noting that Efanna was still examining her skull.

"Yeah, fine. I've had worse," she sighed, "You?"

"I've had worse," Loki agreed with a half-smile, half-grimace.

Efa chuckled lightly and flopped down on the sofa next to him.

"Well, that was exciting," she commented after catching her breath, her tone surprisingly cheerful.

"That's one way of putting it," he responded dryly, turning his head to look at her in confusion as she actually seemed to be grinning, "How did you learn how to fight by the way? Your skill far exceeds anything I would have thought your mother could teach you."

"Well you don't know my Mam," she said, chuckling, "But you're right, she only taught me the basics."

"Who _did_ teach you then?" Loki questioned, "Considering as you claim not to have met anyone else since her death."

"_You_ did," Efanna answered with a smirk.

Loki raised his eyebrow.

"I don't believe I recall such instruction."

"Yeah, well, you haven't _yet_," Efa explained, "And I guess it's possible that you never will now that I've already learnt, I mean there's not much point in you teaching me something I already know is there?"

"So you claim to have learnt from a Vision of me teaching you to fight?" Loki clarified.

"Yup!" she confirmed with aplomb, "Although I put in a good deal of practice too, it's not like I had the Vision and then, poof! I could do it."

"Interesting," he mused, "So you learned from a Vision of something that had not yet happened, that in teaching you, may cause it not to happen at all?"

"Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey."

"Indeed," Loki agreed, smirking at the reference which he now understood.

"Let's agree not to discuss our fathers in future though," she suggested, "Exhilarating as that was, I think both our bodies would thank us if we didn't repeat it on a regular basis."

"I wasn't aware that the subject would get quite such a reaction from you."

Efanna turned her head towards his, raising her eyebrows.

"It was what you were digging for though, wasn't it?"

Loki should have known she would've seen through his actions as she always seemed to. He had not yet gotten used to the idea that there was someone who understood him so fully. She stared at him for a long while, her white eyes piercing, and for one of the only times in his life, Loki found it hard to hold another's gaze.

"I'm afraid you didn't get what you were looking for though," she informed him, "Or perhaps you did…"

Loki questioned her with his eyes and she smiled at him with a brief chuckle.

"Still love you, Loki," she told him lightly in explanation.

Loki's heart gave a pathetic sort of wrench as she said the words and he cursed himself for his weakness. As they lay there, exhausted, he desperately searched her eyes for any sign that she might be lying, or mistaken, or teasing him somehow. But despite his long examination he could find no evidence of any of those things, only an abiding gentleness and compassion that he had never seen before. Although his mind rejected the very possibility, he couldn't help but begin to wonder whether she might actually love him after all.

* * *

**So, Loki's made some fantastic progress over the last few chapters, but I really don't think that he can be turned around so easily, so he kinda took a bit of a step backwards in this one. The way I see it is a bit like a broken bone – if it sets wonky then you have to break it again before you can set it straight; when Odin broke Loki's heart he patched it up with hate and resentment because he didn't have anything else, now if Efa wants to make it better again she's going to have to re-break it before she can truly heal it. Loki's troubles are so deeply ingrained that I didn't think he could turn around just because someone simply told him they loved him. There's something good old Hiddleston once said about the question about Loki's redemption being whether he can accept forgiveness and whether he can forgive himself. So that's something I'm trying to explore. Poor Loki.**

**I also wanted to show that Efa's not perfect either! She's generally calm and lovely, but there are certain things that set her off, and when they do she lives up to the whole 'fiery redhead'!**

**Let me know what you think and I shall love you forever! :D**


	14. A Desperate Need to be Loved

**Wow! I have over 50 reviews now – THANK YOU SO MUCH! Your reviews really help me keep writing on bad days, so I really, really do appreciate them!**

o

In this one we find out Loki's age, so I thought I'd let you know how I've figured it out. I guessed that Thor and Loki as characters are around min-twenties in human years, so I pretty much just x100. It actually fits surprisingly well with the Thor timeline if you take it that their various life stages are in proportion to their overall lifespan – so they're a child for x100 as long! Sounds like ages to us, but that's because we're used to our lifespan. To a dog our lives and childhoods must seem impossibly long.

Oh and by the way, this story has just passed the 50,000 word count! (For just the story bit, not counting authors notes or chapter titles) This is now by far the longest piece of fiction I have ever written and I'm amazed how well I'm doing and how many people are enjoying it! Thank you!

o

**Chapter Fourteen:**

**A Desperate Need to be Loved**

* * *

"Loki," Efa reprimanded him from her workbench, "Stay away from the filing cabinet."

Loki sighed and turned towards her, trying to look innocent as she paused from her work to watch him.

"I merely thought that if we are to be facing some sort of danger, as you believe, it would be most sensible for me to know all the variables. That way I shall be of most use in defending against it," Loki argued.

Efanna smirked slightly and Loki knew that she was unconvinced by his lie. Why did he have to be stuck with the one person who could see through him so easily?

"Would you like it if I showed the pictures of _your_ life to anyone else?" she questioned him archly. She didn't need to wait for a response, Loki's face expressed everything that needed to be said.

"Exactly," she continued, "I shall protect your privacy as long as you allow me to protect theirs."

"But what of Thor?" Loki countered smoothly, "We grew up together, there is nothing your pictures could show of him that I do not already know."

Efa gave him a look that quite clearly said '_bullshit_'.

"In that case you have no need to see the pictures then, do you?" she replied sweetly, "Look, I've already given you anything which pertains to you, and shown you anything that I think might have something to do with whatever seems to be … approaching. You're not getting anything else. Now get back over here and sit down before I am forced to initiate the Second Great Paint War of the Welsh Valleys; and believe me, you're going to get your arse handed to you again if I do."

Loki sighed and gave in. He had never fully expected her to let him see the other pictures anyway.

"I still maintain that you have an unfair advantage in that you are _always_ covered in paint," he protested, crossing the room and sinking into a chair.

The last time he had attempted to annoy her for too long whilst she was working she had retaliated by flicking paint at him. Things had quickly escalated from there until they were both what she had deemed 'walking works of art'. She'd even insisted on taking several pictures.

"I'm not _always_ covered in paint," she contended, "Today it's ink instead."

Loki rolled his eyes at her but dropped the subject, watching her in silence instead. Today she had moved on from the large canvases and was working on several ink sketches of the tree at the top of her land during the changing seasons. Her rough colour work had now dried and she was adding in the detail in black ink with a fine, scratchy nib. It was somehow calming to watch her like this; she became so entirely absorbed in her work that she seemed able to shut everything else out. She radiated a sort of peace and contentment that Loki could only dream of.

Of course there was also the reason that her Visions did indeed seem to be increasing in their frequency that drew Loki to her extended company. It was obvious to him that they were starting to worry her and yet she would not tell him of them unless he interrogated her ceaselessly from the instant she awoke from them. From the vague hints he had managed to prise from her, he gathered that whatever she was Seeing would have significant consequences for them both and he wanted to know as much about it as possible, especially seeing as he was stuck in this useless mortal form.

As he watched her draw, the loose woollen jumper she wore slipped down one arm, exposing her bare shoulder and the large purple bruise that blossomed there, mute evidence of her most recent Vision and corresponding collapse. She had assured him it would disappear within a day or so, but it still surprised Loki just how much her Visions were capable of hurting her. To see such visible signs of the fragility of her body could not help but cause Loki's mind to wander to his own bruises, gained from their fight a couple of days previously. Any wounds Efanna had suffered from their bout had now disappeared, but the sharp crack of her skull hitting the coffee table continued to echo around Loki's mind. It disturbed him in a way he could not describe, and he knew that it was more than just the reminder of his own pitiful mortality in this state.

It was perhaps these thoughts that drove his next actions. After Efa had finished her picture they headed back towards the cottage. They had not even reached the barn door before she froze and then slowly toppled forwards. Without thinking, Loki stepped forwards and caught the redheaded girl in his arms before she hit the ground.

o

_Tony Stark stands in the courtyard, suited up but with his face plate raised. He turns to Loki, who's arms are folded against his bare chest._

"_Is she always like this?" he enquires of the Asgardian._

"_You get used to it," Loki replies dryly, with a long look at Efanna._

The Vision faded and Efanna waited for the pain to bloom in her head. The concrete floor of her workshop was never a good one to fall against. Maybe she should just invest in crash mats.

When it didn't come however, she blinked open her eyes in confusion, only to be met by the green of Loki's as he stared down at her. At this point, Efa realised that her back was not resting against cold concrete but two surprisingly warm arms.

"Loki, you _caught_ me?" she asked in astonishment.

"It appears that way," he responded. His expression confused her, he looked mildly surprised, but thoughtful.

Slowly he lifted her up until she was back on her feet again. When she didn't move he took a step back, still watching her with that slightly perplexed gaze.

"Even though you might have touched me?" Efa asked, knowing her own expression went well beyond _slightly_ perplexed, "Even though that would have given away the last of your privacy?"

Loki's brow creased slightly as he considered her. Efanna realised her mouth was hanging open and closed it.

"You would have hurt yourself, should you have fallen," he explained finally, sounding as though his words were addressed to himself as much as they were her.

"And you actually _care_ about that?" Efanna asked breathlessly.

As she waited for his answer her stomach seemed to have disappeared and her heart felt like it was in her throat. He'd told her he didn't hate her, but could he really, actually _care_? As the silence continued and Loki's harsh rebuttal failed to come a sickeningly strong wave of hope rushed through Efa's body.

"Do you?" she whispered, stepping forward, "Do you actually care if I get hurt?"

The confusion on Loki's face was growing.

"Why does that mean so much to you?" he asked her, his voice low.

"Because… After Mam… What with my Visions…" Efa started, faltering at the intensity of his gaze and feeling suddenly, completely and horribly vulnerable, "I only ever hoped that I might be able to persuade you all not to hate me. I have intruded so vilely into your lives… After all that… How could you not?"

She looked up at him and she could feel the warmth of tears start to sting her eyes.

"I never thought anyone but Mam would ever be able to care about me," she whispered, "I always told myself that no one ever would. I had her love and that was enough. I told myself it didn't matter, that I didn't need anyone else, because, after all, I'd never have anyone anyway… But…"

Her throat closed up and her voice failed her. _But I didn't realise how much I want to be loved_, she finished in her head, begging with her eyes for Loki to understand.

o

Loki could only watch her in shock. She had crumpled before him, had almost appeared to shrink before his eyes. He had never seen anyone look so vulnerable before. In this moment he had watched as every one of her defences seemed to have crumbled and she now stood before him, hugging her arms tightly as if trying to hold herself together. All because she wanted him to care.

He suddenly realised that in this moment he could destroy her. With just one word he could wrench out her heart and shatter it. He had the power over her, the control that when they had first met he had decided he would peruse. Only he hadn't. He hadn't aimed to gain such power. He hadn't tried to charm her, to seduce her, to make her need him more than anything else. He had simply been himself. More himself than he had been in years. Lying and insulting and imperious and mischievous. And yet the hope that he might actually care about her was causing her to break apart.

Was this how she saw him? A creature so pathetically desperate? A being so dependent on others that a single word could destroy everything they were? _"No, Loki."_ Odin's last words to him echoed around his head. Was that what he was? A creature who had so craved another's approval that they had let it ruin them? How could so pitiful an existence be worth anything at all?

And yet she saw worth in him. She stood by him where all others ran. In this moment he had more power over her than he had ever dreamed of. But could he really destroy her the way Odin had destroyed him? Could he really ruin the only being that claimed to love him?

If someone had told him he would face this dilemma, and over a _mortal_ at that, he would have been insulted. Was he truly so weak as to let _sentiment_ guide his actions? Yet somehow, seeing Efanna like this… Seeing a creature so desperate for the tiniest sign of his affection when she had given to him so selflessly…

Loki could not bring himself to break the heart that lay so defenceless before him.

o

As the silence stretched on, Efanna cursed herself for allowing such thoughts. She had known that no one but her mother was ever going to love her. She had known that even just gaining the forgiveness of those she had Seen would be an achievement that would most likely take her life to earn. She had known it would be foolish to want any more than for them not to hate her, that it would only end in her getting hurt. Why had she gone against all that? Why had she been stupid enough to let herself hope?

Something seemed to change behind Loki's eyes as he watched her and her emotions surged once again. She wished he would just say something. Tell her not to be so ludicrous. That he was Loki, of course he didn't care. She didn't think even such a denial could be more painful than this dreadful _hope_.

Efa had just about convinced herself that such a denial was coming, and so when Loki actually responded she was fairly sure her mouth dropped open again in shock.

"For some reason – do not ask me why," he began, slowly, "… I do not wish to see you harmed."

"… Really?" Efanna asked.

Loki gave her a disapproving stare.

"Sorry…" she apologised, "I'm just still having a hard time believing that you don't hate me, this was kinda unexpected…"

"And yet you wonder why I find it difficult to accept that you love me?" he asked with a wry smile.

"Huh, fair point I guess," Efa mused, fiddling with her jumper and trying to fill the slightly awkward void in the conversation caused by Loki's admission.

"… You wanna go get lunch?"

"I believe that was the plan before this little interlude," he agreed.

"What was your Vision of, by the way?" he asked as they walked across the courtyard.

"Oh, yeah, I'd almost forgotten about that… Stark," Efa answered, knowing that he wouldn't question her further if she said it was about anyone other than him. She was stubborn about that. Somehow she didn't think it would be sensible to mention that he and Stark were going to meet sometime in the near future at this particular moment. Mind you, she wasn't sure if telling Loki that would ever be a sensible thing to do.

Lunch was a quiet affair, the two of them watching the other, too absorbed in emotional turmoil to really talk. Efanna felt like there was a little bubble of happiness growing inside her, after all – someone actually _cared_ about her! But after a while she began to feel slightly intimidated by the intensity of Loki's gaze, the memory of just how exposed she had felt still very fresh in her mind. Loki wasn't acting at all like she was used to, and whilst she thought that was probably a good thing, it did mean that she was finding it harder to tell what was going on behind his green eyes.

"What are you thinking?" she asked eventually, once they had finished clearing the table, curiosity and insecurity pushing her to break the silence. Loki stared at her for a long while and Efanna began to think he wasn't going to answer so she busied herself putting the crockery away instead.

"What would happen if you touched me?" he asked suddenly.

"Um, I'd get a sudden influx of your Memories," she answered, slightly taken aback by the question, "Mostly images or sensations. Like your body is trying to tell me everything that's happened to it. Physical things mostly, it's not quite the same as what _you_ would define as memories, but I can't think of another way to explain it. Your History maybe? Seeing as you're quite old I'd imagine there would be quite a bit, so it'd probably shut everything else out for a while, and seeing as your life had been fairly… shall we say traumatic? I'd imagine it would be pretty strong, so I might kinda slump a bit or something. I'm not sure. It's different for everything I touch, and well, even if I was used to touching people you're a rather special case anyway."

She trailed off as Loki took her ramble in, his expression thoughtful.

"… Why?" she asked, confused by his sudden interest.

As if in answer he held his hand out towards her. Efanna held her hands behind her back, not wanting to force her touch upon him as she wasn't wearing her gloves. Then her brow furrowed. Was he asking her to…?

"What…?" she began to ask, not sure exactly what was going on.

"I doubt there is much left that I could keep private," Loki explained, "You know everything about me anyway. It's a nuisance having to be so careful around you."

"You're really letting me touch you?" she asked, not quite believing it.

"Do you want to?"

Loki's brows were knit together but his hand remained steady in front of him. Efanna stared at it, letting what he was offering sink in. To touch another person. To be touched. Properly. That was something she hadn't had since she was a child. Although Seeing Loki's past like that wouldn't be pleasant she couldn't deny that she craved physical contact. Since Loki had lived here she had truly realised how lonely it was to live your life without ever being touched.

"Are you sure?" she asked, breathlessly. He was giving away his last bit of secrecy. Was he really willing to do such a thing for her?

Loki seemed to hesitate for a moment, but kept his hand steady. Then he nodded. Slowly Efanna reached out her own hand. She noticed it was shaking.

o

The second before her hand touched his, Loki almost jerked it away. This was the only thing left he could hide from her. If she touched him she really would know _everything_. Could he really give so much power to another? But, as he reminded himself, there was so little that she didn't already know, and she had not used any of that to her advantage. If there was anyone he could trust with such knowledge, it was Efanna. His brow furrowed slightly at that. Of all the beings in the universe, the first one he had ever trusted was a _human_.

These thoughts were erased when she gently took his hand. The instant their skin touched her eyes fluttered closed and she slumped towards him. He stepped forward so that she collapsed against his chest, keeping her steady with his free hand. The one he had offered her was still grasped between her thin fingers with a surprisingly strong hold. His skin seemed to tingle slightly against hers.

She stayed like this for a few moments – maybe seconds, perhaps a minute – although it could have been years to Loki's mind. Eventually she stirred groggily, rubbing her head slightly against his shoulder and letting out a light groan. Then she pulled back from him, steadying herself with his arm as she swayed.

"Wow…" she mumbled, her words slightly slurred, "That was … intense."

She screwed her eyes up and shook her head, as though trying to dislodge water from her ears. Loki was reminded of someone who'd just woken up from a night of intense drinking with a severe hangover. Her hand still tightly grasped his and Loki seemed far too aware of the fact. Efa shook her head again and spread her feet as through steadying herself, before opening her eyes and looking up at him.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, that was just… wow, that was _way_ more than I was expecting," she said, finally letting go of his hand and flexing her fingers, "You've had one hell of a life, Loki."

"What did you See?" he asked, his voice guarded.

"Lots," she answered, sounding rather awed, "Mostly just flashes, I couldn't really take anything in properly, there was just so _much_ of it! How old _are_ you?" she added suddenly, tilting her head to one side.

Loki considered the question, doing a few sums in his head and trying to remember the differences between Midgardian and Asgardian time.

"I would think, roughly, somewhere between twenty-four and twenty-five of your Midgardian centuries," he answered finally. Efanna's eyebrows rose.

"Seriously? Almost two and a half thousand years old?" she exclaimed, "Wow, Loki, you're _ancient_!"

Loki raised one eyebrow and chuckled slightly at her expression, not quite sure if he should be amused by her statement or offended. Efanna merely grinned at him.

"I've got nothing wrong with ancient," she told him cheerfully, seeming to regain her usual energy. Loki allowed her a small smile which instantly set her face to beaming.

Then suddenly, without any warning or perceivable provocation, she quite literally threw herself at him. She covered the space between them with a leap and ended up clinging to him with all four limbs and her head burrowed in his shoulder. The force, and unexpected nature of it, was enough to make Loki stagger slightly and he stood awkwardly with his arms splayed to the sides to maintain his balance as she hugged him tightly.

"Thank you, Loki," she whispered and he felt the words tickle his neck.

"Uh, Efanna, what exactly are you doing?" he questioned, trying to turn his head so that he could see her and still having no idea what to do with his arms. Seeing as Efanna's legs were currently wrapped around his waist he couldn't even just drop them by his sides.

"Hugging you!" she answered with aplomb, giving him another squeeze. She lifted her head up and leant back slightly so she could look him in the eye.

"You can't tell me that you haven't craved physical contact either," she said, her tone more sombre. Gently she detached one arm from around his shoulders and placed it on his cheek, her bare skin against his.

"I know how lonely life is without being touched. And I know you do too."

A small tremor seemed to run through Loki's body at her touch and at her words. How long had it been since someone had reached out to him in kindness? Since the feel of another's skin on his had been for any other reason than to inflict pain? Suddenly he felt a strange warmth deep within his chest and when Efa gave him one of her gentle smiles and returned her head to the crook of his neck he found that his arms slowly wrapped around her back. Efa sighed slightly and snuggled into him further.

"I never thought anyone would hug me again," she mumbled, her words vibrating against his skin, "Especially not you. I'm glad I was wrong."

Loki didn't know what to say so he simply stood there, holding this bewildering girl as she clung to him as though to save her life. After a couple of minutes she complained of getting leg cramp and slowly released her vice-like grip around his middle, wiggling her legs in midair as she realised she couldn't reach the floor. She leant back from his chest again, supported this time by his hands around her back and looked around.

"You really are tall," she commented, sounding slightly astonished, "How on Earth do you not bang your head on the beams?"

Loki couldn't help but smirk at her as he slowly lowered her to the floor.

"I am often forced to duck," he responded sardonically, "Your dwelling needs higher ceilings."

"You're just too tall," she replied with a grin, "It's not a problem for anyone else."

"Then I maintain that everyone else is too short."

Efanna poked her tongue out at him and then reached up on her toes to plant a small kiss just beneath his cheekbone. When she pulled back and saw his expression she grinned impishly.

"Thank you, Loki," she said then, her white eyes earnest, "Just… Thank you."

Then she turned and left the room, pulling her boots on and crossing the yard back to her workshop, leaving Loki standing in the kitchen. His cheek somehow burned where she had kissed him and his mind was in turmoil.

* * *

**Okay, just to let you know that Efa's going off to do her drawing thing to sort out Loki's Memories here, in case you were thinking she'd taken it all a bit too well. I couldn't figure out how to gracefully write that in so I thought I'd tell you here. I figured that she'd be more concerned about hugging someone properly for the first time in 10 years than sorting his memories out right away, and to be honest, after that she probably needed a hug!**

**So, as always, let me know what you think and I'll get writing the next one!**

**Oh, and by the way, there is a fully plot justified reason why Loki isn't wearing a shirt in Efa's Vision. It's not just that Loki is gorgeous I promise! (although he is)**


	15. What Must Not Come To Pass

**Okay, wow. Thank you. Seriously, I actually cried reading your reviews for that last chapter. Just, thank you so much!**

o

Wow! New chapter already! A shorter one this one, but intense! And a warning: it starts off pretty dark! Not sure how you'll feel about that, but (although I sound really mean saying it) I actually loved writing it! Dark and intense things just feel really good to write. I'm not a sadist, I promise!

**Disclaimer:** The quotes from Doctor Who, Finding Nemo and the names of Pokémon, all belong to their rightful owners and not me!

o

**Chapter Fifteen:**

**What Must Not Come To Pass**

* * *

_Efanna races out of the Helicarrier's control deck, a gun clenched in her fist. Before anyone can follow her there is a large explosion and smoke and dust fills the room. Efanna sprints through corridors, darting past S.H.E.I.L.D. Agents and the attacking soldiers until she reaches the largest of the labs. Within is a man she knows only too well._

_The scene shifts, Efanna is now tied to a chair, sweat dripping from her forehead and a steady stream of blood flowing from her temple. There is a tall, dark haired man sitting nonchalantly before her, toying with a vicious-looking knife._

"_We know you are the one with the information," he tells her calmly, "I'd like you to tell us where you got it."_

_Efanna raises her head to look him in the eye._

" '_People assume time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey, stuff'," she replies at high speed._

_At first the man looks interested, but by the time she's finished her sentence he is scowling. He leans forward, grabs her hand and breaks her little finger. Efanna can't help but scream from the pain._

"_Now you see what happens when you take the piss," the man growls at her as her head flops to her chest, "So tell me what I want to know."_

_Efanna starts to whisper, " 'Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim-' "_

_The man cuts her off with a slap around the face and brings his knife to her throat._

"_Where do you get your information?" he repeats._

"_Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, Venusaur-" Efanna begins to list before the man reaches down and breaks another of her fingers. She screams again._

"_How much do S.H.E.I.L.D. know?"_

"_Charmander, Charmeleon, Charizard-" _

_She is interrupted again as the man slides the knife's jagged edge across her cheek to the corner of her mouth, almost lovingly. Another scream escapes her lips as pain shoots through her and the warm taste of her own blood overcomes her senses._

"_What are 'The Avengers' plans?"_

_Efanna breathes heavily for a moment as pressure is exerted on another of her fingers and the tip of the knife tugs at the already gaping cut across her face. She locks her white eyes onto the brown ones of her captor. They are filled with hate and contempt for him._

"_Squirtle," she spits derisively, "Wartortle, Blastoise-"_

_Another scream echoes through the dark room and Efanna's head slumps forward once more. There is an angry growl from above her and a rough hand grasps her neck, forcing her took look into her captor's face. He leans over her, and brings his other hand, still holding the knife to roughly prise apart her legs. Efanna's eyes fill with horror and she uses every bit of energy she has left to thrash and struggle, to do anything to escape this vile man's touch. _

"_Tell me," he whispers into her ear, the feel of his hot breath making Efanna's skin crawl._

_She looks deep into his pitiless eyes, knowing full well what will come next. She summons the last vestiges of her courage and mimics an action she wonders if he will recognise. Then she abandons all hope and resigns herself to her fate._

_She spits in his face._

o

A loud scream caused Loki's head to jerk up from the book he was reading. Efanna, who had been lying still on the sofa within the grasps of a Vision now sat curled in a ball in the middle and desperately trying to calm the anguished cries echoing from her mouth.

"Efa?"

She didn't answer him and instead ran her hands across her body, particularly her fingers and the left side of her face. Her breathing was heavy and fast, her eyes wide and her body shaking violently. Her dog leapt up next to her and began to lick her face but she seemed to ignore even him, still whimpering lightly under her breath. Loki frowned. He had never seen her wake from a Vision like this before.

"Efanna," he said sternly, crossing the room to her and turning her shaking form to face him as he knelt before her, "Efanna, look at me."

Gradually her white eyes seemed to focus on his and he saw the horror in them fade slightly.

"L-Loki?" she stammered.

Then she let herself collapse into his chest and burst into terrified sobs. Loki looked to her dog as if he might be able to provide some explanation of what he was supposed to do, but the creature looked just as perplexed as he felt.

"Efanna, what did you See?" he asked, wondering what on Asgard could have brought this on.

He couldn't get any response from her however, no matter how hard he tried. Eventually he simply shifted her shivering form so that he could sit on the sofa next to her and let her cry in his arms. Her dog whined and shoved his head into her lap, but even this could not turn her head from his chest, nor prise her hands from where they gripped his shirt with such force that her knuckles turned white. Loki had no idea what was expected of him so he simply sat still and silent as the fabric against his chest grew gradually more and more damp and Efa's shaking grew slowly calmer.

It took well over a hour for her to finally release the grip on his shirt and let her trembling hand reach down to gently stroke her anxious dog's ears. Loki tried once more to try and prise from her some idea of what had caused this collapse. She still refused to talk however, and just shook her head against his chest, not even looking up at him. Loki returned to silence once more. Once again he had absolutely no knowledge of what to do. Nothing in his long life had prepared him for situations like this.

As the hour grew steadily later, Loki decided that the most sensible thing to do would be to get the shivering redhead in his arms to her bed. Perhaps sleep would provide the comfort he was incapable of? Efanna remained impassive, but allowed herself to be steered up the stairs and into her room. Loki left her with her dog and firm instructions to go to sleep before closing the door on her and retreating to his own bed with a troubled mind. What could she have Seen that would have disturbed her so much?

As he undressed, leaving his undergarments on as Efanna had a habit of waking him should she feel he had slept too long, he listened intently to any sounds that escaped her room. Although she herself was quiet, there will still gentle thuds and scrapes that suggested she had not yet gone to sleep. Roughly half an hour later he heard her door open and close, her feet pad down the stairs and moments later the tap in the kitchen run. He wondered whether he should go to her, but decided against it. As long as she wasn't screaming or crying she was probably alright. It wasn't long before her footsteps once again passed his door and he heard the toilet flush and the bathroom door close. Then there was silence. Loki closed his eyes and wondered why he was so concerned about her behaviour.

There was a small creak then, which almost made him jump, and he looked across to see Efanna silhouetted in the dark at his door. He could make out few details in the dimness, but her stance seemed hunched and timid.

"Loki?" she whispered, coming further into the room. When he made no response she shocked him by tentatively climbing into his bed and pressing her head against his shoulder.

"He's not going to do that to me," she whispered against his skin, "I'm not going to let him. Promise me he's not going to do that to me?"

"Efanna…?" he asked, questioning what she meant, what she had Seen and what in Valhalla she was doing in his bed.

She raised her white eyes to his and Loki noticed they almost seemed to glow.

"I don't want to be alone, not tonight, not after that," she explained, her tone pleading.

Loki considered her for a moment but she seemed so helpless that eventually he relented. He turned away from her, moving himself across the bed so she had a little more room.

"Thank you," she whispered as he felt her curl herself into a ball against his back and bury her head between his shoulder blades. Then the mattress shifted again and Loki realised her dog had jumped up to sleep on her other side. He was about to protest but the memory of the tremor in her voice quietened him. It would only be one night.

Gradually her breathing deepened and slowed into a steady rhythm. Occasionally Loki felt her thumb trace little circles across his skin and he wondered if she was aware that she was doing so or if she was already asleep. Every now and then she would mumble and writhe lightly, but Loki could never make out the words. Once or twice she screamed, yet she never woke. It was not until the final hours of darkness that Loki was able to drift off. The presence of a woman in his bed, let alone one so closely pressed against him was an alien thing to him. The last time he had shared his sleep with another seemed as though it was a lifetime ago and the massive beds of the Palace of Asgard meant that they had never touched when he had. The fact that Efanna was choosing to sleep by him for no other reason than that she seemed to find comfort in his presence unnerved him. Such a thing was something he had never expected to experience.

o

Efanna woke to the furry warmth of her dog at her back and the warmth of smooth skin to her front. For a moment she was unsettled before the memories of the night before descended on her. At this point she marvelled that Loki had ever allowed her to sleep next to him. As she firmly pushed away the echoes of her dreams however, she was very glad that he had. She did not know how else she would have survived the night.

It then dawned on her that she had just spent the night in a bed that was not her own. That she had shared that bed with a man. That she was no longer the child she had been the last time she had sought comfort from another to help her sleep. That she was resting against the bare skin of Loki's back. And lastly, perhaps most troublingly, that Loki was hardly innocent when it came to sleeping with others. She felt her cheeks flush and wriggled slightly, trying to create some space between them without pushing Pip off behind her and hoping he hadn't got the wrong impression. Not that he would have. She was _human_ for pity's sake and… She shook her head. Her cheeks were now burning and she mentally turned and fled from where her thoughts were taking her. Perhaps she should have thought this through a little further last night.

The thought of last night however, instantly sobered her as she remembered why she had sought Loki's comfort in the first place. Her forehead screwed up and she once again pressed it against his skin, hoping that might distract her.

"Are you awake then?" Loki's voice asked from the other side of his shoulder.

"Mm-hm," she mumbled, hoping he wouldn't chuck her out. She wasn't ready to be alone again quite yet.

He shifted awkwardly, turning over until he lay facing her, propped up on one arm, his green eyes looking deep into hers. Efa shrunk back against Pip slightly. Her mother's old bed wasn't really big enough for two people and a dog.

"Are you going to tell me what that was all about?" he asked, one eyebrow raised slightly. Efanna looked down at the covers.

"No…" she whispered.

She wasn't ready to talk about it. Last night she had drawn her pictures to try and sort her mind out as best she could and then burnt them in the grate downstairs. That was one particular future she was _not_ going to let come to pass.

Loki considered her for a moment and then flopped down onto his back with a huff. Efanna wriggled until she lay on her back too and shoulder to shoulder they stared up through the skylight, watching the grey clouds scud across the sky.

"It's Samhain," she told him quietly, "At midnight tonight I'll be twenty-two."

* * *

**Okay, I just hope I have managed to keep this going well enough after all the incredible praise you gave me for the last chapter! **

**Please let me know what you think!**


	16. What Samhain Brings

**Thank you again for all your reviews! I'm sorry I couldn't get back to you all this time, but I'm struggling a bit and writing this chapter's taken all my energy! So I'll tell you all here that I love you instead!**

o

**Chapter Sixteen:**

**What Samhain Brings**

* * *

Efanna silently wriggled her way under Loki's arm as they sat on the sofa watching the fire. Loki didn't bother to push her away. He knew why she sought such physical closeness from him. Although he would never admit it, Loki understood the comfort such an action could provide. Efa looked up at him and he could see the shadow of the pain that still haunted her white eyes after the previous night's Vision.

Neither broke the silence as they watched the clock on the mantle slowly tick away the remainder of the day. There was a certain heaviness to the atmosphere. The sense one gets during the calm before a storm. They were all aware of it, even the dog, who had spent the evening staring fixedly into the distance with his ears pricked, as though waiting for something to suddenly emerge. Although it was warm in the room, and Efanna's cheeks glowed from the heat of the fire, Loki often noticed her shiver, and whenever she did so, her dog let out a small whine.

As the clock crept towards the last few minutes before the midnight hour, Efanna stood up suddenly and paced to the seldom used door that connected the kitchen to the cottage's garden. Loki followed to find her standing just beyond the threshold in the light of the newly waning moon, her arms wrapped around her torso. There was not even the slightest breeze to ripple her hair or the long, flowing dress she wore.

"Can you feel it?" she asked without turning her head, her voice hushed.

"Feel what?" Loki asked from the doorway. There was certainly something nagging at his senses, but he did not know this realm like Efanna, and wanted her explanation as to what she felt was wrong.

"I don't know," she whispered, "Just… something. The air doesn't feel right. It's too still. It's like, somehow, the world itself is waiting for something."

She turned back to him and he saw her fingers were gripped tight on her arms.

"I don't like it," she admitted.

Loki's brow furrowed. From what he knew of her, he did not think Efanna the type to scare easily and yet she was clearly unsettled.

"I sense something," he agreed, "But in this form, without my magic, I cannot say what."

Efanna nodded slowly, placing one hand around the charm about her neck. Then she walked back towards him, locking the door behind her and moving to stand in front of the clock above the fire as the hands slowly moved upwards. Loki watched her carefully before crossing the room to stand next to her. Looking down he saw her eyes were distant, fixed on the clock but somehow staring through it as the final seconds of the day passed.

The moment all three hands met at the top she let out a sudden gasp and collapsed. The skin under Loki's fingers as he caught her was as cold as ice.

o

_An icy mist. Freezing, pallid, dense. Within it shapes move, indistinguishable in their frozen shroud, but with purpose, with a sense of triumph. _

_Loki's form emerges from the fog, blue skin and red eyes. The image splits; in one instance he extends a hand, in the other he turns away._

_Reflections of faces flicker as the mist swirls. Efanna, Loki, Thor, Natasha, Clint, Bruce, Tony, Steve. They are cold, dead, frostbitten and then full of life and energy, of rage and battle._

_The mist creeps across valleys, hills, fields, rivers, roads, towns, cities, deserts, oceans. _

_Two possibilities fight for dominance._

_In one, a group of lost souls stand together. To protect the Earth and the ones they love, or die trying. A ray of warm sunshine breaks through the mist._

_In the other, the mist envelops the Earth and everything turns to frost in its path until no life remains except that of the creatures in the fog._

Efanna woke with a gasp in Loki's arms, her lungs burning with cold, the feel of his skin like fire against hers. Within seconds she was shivering and pressing herself against Loki, desperate for the warmth he held that her body seemed to have lost. She felt him move her towards the fire and simply lay limp in his arms until it no longer hurt to breathe and she could once again feel her fingers and toes.

When finally she could move she turned to face him, wondering whether she could answer the question in his green eyes. That Vision was different. They should not affect her in that way. She should not have been touched by the cold of the mist she had Seen.

"What happened?"

Loki's tone was urgent and Efa could tell he knew something was amiss. His green eyes were locked onto hers.

"I don't know," she mumbled, her voice raw in her throat, "There was a mist, and cold, a cold that somehow enveloped the Earth until it could rival Jötunheim."

Loki's eyes hardened at the sound of the planet he descended from.

"Was that all?"

"No… There were forms in the fog, some sort of creature that I couldn't make out. And… There were images… They flickered so fast I could barely catch them. You were there, and me, and the … others. In some we fought, in some we fell."

Efanna's mind reeled as she considered what she'd Seen, but there was something else pressing on her awareness, urgently, demanding her attention. She saw Loki was about to question her further but she jumped to her feet as her senses cried out at her.

"Can you feel it?" she asked for the second time that night. This time though her voice was demanding rather than hesitant.

The atmosphere that had so disturbed her before had changed. It was oppressive now, she could feel it closing in around them, heavy and insistent and _cold_.

"Feel what?" he asked cautiously.

"Don't play stupid with me, Loki!" she snapped, unnerved by her Vision and the change she could sense in the world, "You may not have your magic but you still have your mind! If _I_ can notice the change then you must be able to. Tell me what you feel and what you think has caused it. Your knowledge in this matter far exceeds mine."

Loki considered her for a moment, his eyes serious.

"There is a … presence here on Midgard that I had not felt previously," he answered slowly, "In this form my senses are weak and without my magic I cannot tell you more, but I _can_ tell that it is there. What it is and why it has suddenly appeared I cannot say."

He trailed off into thought and Efanna watched him intently, her own mind racing as she tried to understand what had just happened. She noticed that Pip now stood alert, his fur on end and his hackles raised.

"We both felt something before, and we both agree that it has now changed," Loki mused aloud, pacing back and forth in thought, "I think the timing of your Vision was also significant. You will agree the nature of it was different too – your body temperature is not normally affected so. Although we were both distracted at the time, I would be willing to wager that the moment this … presence changed was the same moment at which your Vision struck."

"Midnight," Efa whispered, "Midnight on Samhain."

"Exactly. Given what you told me about Samhain, how it is the time when 'the veil between worlds is at its thinnest', I think you put it-"

"You think something crossed into this world from another."

o

"… _And this current bout of cold weather continues, with temperatures once again struggling to rise above freezing for most of the country. There are road closures across Britain as heavy snow continues to fall throughout the north of the country and across Wales, some reaching as far south-"_

"This is _not_ normal weather for the beginning of November," Efa said, turning the TV off.

"I can only imagine that somehow, whatever it is that entered this realm has caused some change in the atmosphere which is disrupting local weather patterns," Loki theorised.

"It's a very widespread 'local' – it seems the whole northern hemisphere's suffering the same sudden cold snap. Well, at least we don't have to worry about the ice-caps melting anymore…"

Efanna sat flicking through various news and weather websites on her laptop as the snow drifted down past the window. They'd already had a good eight inches over the last four days and it didn't look likely to stop. The skies had clouded over by the time she and Loki had finally made it to their beds on Samhain and they hadn't cleared since. Efa looked up from her armchair to see Loki standing at the window, watching the snow fall with a sour look on his face.

"To change the weather systems of half the planet… That takes a significant amount of power," he muttered, half to himself, "Are you sure your Visions have told you nothing else of these creatures?"

Loki turned to her and fixed his eyes upon hers. Efa sighed.

"No, just the mist, I can never See past it," she told him, "Only what's left when it's gone…"

Her voice trailed off as she remembered the attacks she had Seen. Bodies deformed and blackened with frostbite, buried in snow and ice; men, women and children. She would See several of these attacks a day. They had started small, just a person or two, wandering alone in the hills or mountains in the coldest parts of the world, but they were becoming more violent. More and more people were being attacked at a time and they were spreading south, towards more closely inhabited regions. The worst she had Seen had been an entire village in one of the more remote regions of Alaska.

"Do you know of any creature that could do this?" she asked carefully.

"You mean, do I think it's the Frost Giants?" Loki countered with venom.

"I mean what I say Loki," she told him firmly, "If you think it's Frost Giants then tell me, but I ask if you know of anything else."

Loki's gaze remained hard and his jaw clenched. Efa set aside her laptop and went over to him, reaching up to put one hand on his cheek.

"You know I won't think any differently of you if it _is_ Frost Giants, Loki," she assured him passionately, "You know I love you anyway. Nothing could change my opinion of you."

She held his gaze and watched as his eyes gradually softened, even if only slightly.

"I do not believe it to be Frost Giants," he told her finally, "The attacks you have Seen do not match their style of killing. And I know of no way they could produce this 'mist' you mention so much."

He sighed and turned away, back to the window and the drifting snow.

"There are no creatures in the Nine Realms which fit your description, but there are worlds beyond of which even Heimdall knows not. These creatures could easily be from one of them, as the Chitauri were."

"You think they could be working with Thanos?" Efa asked. She noticed Loki flinched at the name.

"I doubt it. If they were, I would know of it by now," he answered darkly, "And I suspect you would have Seen him in your Visions."

"Well that's something at least," she muttered before the room before her swam and reformed.

_It is dark. The snowflakes drift lazily through the sky to settle on the freezing courtyard where the old Land Rover is parked. Beyond the billows of snow an ominous mist creeps up the lane._

_There are two figures and a dog in the courtyard, and a third figure who is not always there. When Loki and Efanna stand alone the mist envelops them. When Iron Man is at their side it is driven back._

Efa woke as Loki was laying her down on the sofa. She took a moment for her Vision to settle in, but the urgency of it overtook her. This was going to happen soon. They had only hours until the mist would be at their door and neither she nor Loki could do anything about it. They needed Stark.

"Well this is going to be interesting," she muttered, just as Loki was about to ask her what she'd Seen.

"What is?" he asked cautiously, but Efanna ignored him for a moment, jumping up and running to get the seldom used phone that sat under the stairs.

She cast back through her mind, using her mother's tricks and shuffling through her memories until she found the one that she wanted. Then she keyed in the number her memory showed her, wincing at the thought of how much it was going to cost. Just before she pressed 'call' she turned to Loki, who was watching her suspiciously.

"Loki," she said, trying to make her voice as calm and earnest as possible, "Please, whatever happens next, just trust me, okay?"

She winced slightly at his expression. He was not going to like this.

"Please?" she repeated, pleadingly. Loki simply raised one eyebrow at her.

Efa sighed and pressed the button, keying in a particular code as soon as the line connected. It rang three times before her call was answered.

"_Who is this?" _

Tony Stark's voice sounded suspicious. Not that surprising really.

"There's no point in me telling you that, you don't know me anyway," Efa said hurriedly, "Just go put your suit on, I need your help."

"_Not until you tell me who you are."_

Efa sighed with irritation. She could feel the time until her Vision ticking away and of course, Tony just _had_ to be awkward.

"Efanna," she replied, only a little snappily. She risked a glance at Loki, whose gaze was getting stonier by the minute as he realised whom she was talking to.

"_And who's she when she's at home?"_

"I told you you wouldn't know, just put the suit on will you?"

"_Look, I don't know if you realise the situation here,"_ Tony drawled from the other end of the line, _"You see-"_

"I've just called one of the most secure numbers in the world, which only members of 'The Avengers' know, or at least they would if you'd gotten around to telling them already, but as it is, it's pretty much just you, me, Pepper and Jarvis and I shouldn't even know it at all so how the hell am I managing to call you?" Efa rattled off at high speed.

"_Uh, yeah,"_ he replied, sounding surprised, _"You mind telling me how you did get this number?"_

"You gave it to me," she told him offhandedly.

"_I pretty sure I didn't sweetheart, like you said, I've not even given it to who I'm supposed to yet."_

"Yeah well, you _haven't_ given it to me yet."

"_I thought you said I had."_

"You haven't given it to me _yet_; well you sort of have, but from _your_ point of view you haven't, from my point of view you did years ago, and from out joint point of view you are going to sometime in the future. Fairly soon I think."

There was a pause from Tony's end of the line.

"_You realise that that makes absolutely no sense, don't you?"_ he asked.

"It makes perfect sense," Efa replied, "You just don't understand it yet."

"_O-kay,"_ Tony started, quite obviously thinking she was insane.

"Look, just put your bloody suit on will you?" she asked with another worried look at Loki, "Surely the fact that I've managed to call you on this line means I'm worth checking out anyway, and if you don't get going right now there won't _be_ anything to check out anymore."

"_What d'you mean?"_ he asked, for the first time starting to sound serious.

"You know this recent cold weather and those attacks S.H.I.E.L.D. are checking out? I know you know about them, you're bound to have hacked their system. Well I can give you information on them. Come and get me and I'll tell you anything you want to know, that's as long as I know it in the first place; but if you don't come and get me _right now_ then there won't be anything to come get but a blackened, icy corpse."

"_How do you know all this? Where do you get your information?"_

"I'll tell you when you get here, just get a move on will you? Oh and tell S.H.I.E.L.D. to send a jet too, your suit isn't really built to take passengers."

There was another pause and Efa knew Tony was checking out several things on his many computers and making his decision.

"_Fine,"_ he answered curtly, _"But this better be worth it sunshine. Where are you?"_

"You mean you haven't already traced my location from the phone line? I'm disappointed, Stark, I would've thought you'd've had that done within seconds."

Efa heard him make a noise that sounded half annoyed, half impressed.

"_Okay, you got me on that one,"_ Tony admitted, _"I've got your location, and I've gotta say you look like you're in the middle of nowhere, but anyway, if I leave now – ETA … roughly 17:20 GMT."_

"Right, about four hours," she confirmed, comparing that to the sense of time from her Vision, "You should just about make it in time. Is S.H.I.E.L.D. sending the jet yet? I'm sure you've already patched this call through and they're not as fast as you."

"_When I get there you and I are going to have a long talk, missy."_

"I look forward to it," Efa said, about to hang up before adding, "Oh yeah, and watch out for fireworks, it's bonfire night, though I'm not sure if there'll be that many displays with this weather."

She hung up before he could reply and slowly turned to face Loki. There was probably more warmth in the snow outside than in his gaze.

"Remember what I said about trusting me?" Efa asked cautiously.

Loki walked towards her, his movements careful and slow, as though he was very deliberately restraining himself. He raised one hand and wrapped his fingers around her neck, but didn't squeeze. At least not yet.

"Explain," he demanded, his tone as dark as his eyes.

Efanna ignored the hand around her neck and reached up to touch Loki's face. He tried to pull away, but couldn't without letting go of her, so he gave in and let it rest there.

"I'm saving our lives," she told him, "My Vision – what I Saw – these creatures, whatever they are must have found out about us, or me. They're coming here. It won't be long before they reach us. Neither of us can do anything to defend against them, not as we are. I Saw two possibilities, one where Stark was there, one where he wasn't. If he comes we live, if he doesn't we die."

"And S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Loki questioned. He kept his hand at her neck, but his tone and eyes had lost their edge.

"They were already investigating, and we both knew it was only a matter of time before we became involved with them," Efa explained, "And you'll note that I said nothing about you. I'm not just handing you over to them. If you wanted you could leave, although I really hope you don't. We need you, Loki; _I_ need you."

Loki considered her for a moment and she almost wished that she hadn't offered him the chance to leave. She didn't know what she'd do if she lost him now. Slowly his fingers uncurled themselves from around her throat and he stood back.

"You know I have nowhere else to go," he said slowly.

Efanna breathed a sigh of relief and stepped forwards to hug him. After a moment she felt his arms meet around her back.

"Thank you," she whispered, "I don't know what I'd do without you."

He looked down at her at that confession, his green eyes puzzled. She gave him a little smile and placed her hand back on his cheek.

"I'm afraid there's something else I need you to do," she told him, "And you're not going to like it."

Loki's eyes hardened again.

"What?" he asked her.

Efanna bit her lip and hesitated before she said, "I need you to call for Thor."

She felt Loki's grip around her stiffen and bit her lip harder.

"What need have we for Thor?" he asked, his voice angry, "You have already called on the man of iron."

Efa stroked his cheek gently.

"The battle that lies ahead of us," she told him, "It is beyond every one of us alone, and if we do not all stand together there is no hope and Earth is lost – with us upon it. We need everyone Loki, not just Thor, but you and I as well."

"What use am I, in this mortal form?" Loki asked bitterly, "And why should I want to save this pathetic world?"

"Because if you let it die then you will die with it," Efa told him sadly, "But I hope you might find more reasons than just that."

Loki looked into her eyes for a long time, and although she could not define what was going on within their green depths, Efa knew the strength of the emotions he felt. She kept her hand on his cheek and took it as a hopeful sign that he did not remove his arms from around her back.

"Why must I call for him and not you?" he questioned finally.

"Heimdall is watching you; he will pay more attention to your plea than he would mine, as will Thor."

Loki fell silent once again, but Efanna was glad he was at least considering her request.

"Please?"

Loki sighed and Efa smiled.

"Very well," he agreed reluctantly, "I cannot guarantee that he shall come however."

"I can."

She gave him a squeeze and a small kiss on the cheek to say thank you. He looked perplexed for a moment and then turned from her, raising his head and voice to the ceiling, and beyond that, the universe.

"Heimdall!" he cried, "I know you are listening! Tell Thor that he must join me here, on Midgard. Tell him he must hurry and that his precious Earth will fall if he does not!"

* * *

**So, the Avengers are on their way! Or at least one of them is. We have now reached stage two of my PLAN! so things are all change from here on! As ever, let me know what you think, your reviews are what keep me writing when my various health problems rear their ugly heads (more than usual)!**

**Oh, and do any of you have any good ideas for nicknames that Stark might give Efa (both before and after he knows of her Visions)? I suck at nicknames!**


	17. Invisible Enemies

**Wow! I have 80 reviews! That is just amazing! THANK YOU!**

This is another of the scenes I've had in my head from the very beginning, so I hope I've done it justice! More Stark/Efa banter too, which is fun to write, I just hope it reads well! And I couldn't think of a chapter title, so this one kinda sucks…

o

**Chapter Seventeen:**

**Invisible Enemies**

* * *

"Loki?" Efanna asked timidly.

Loki looked up at her, standing to the side of his armchair, looking almost exactly as she had when he had first seen her. Tight fitting grey jeans, purple hoodie with some ridiculous slogan on it; biting her lip and wringing her hands. The only difference was this time she did not need her scarf or gloves to shield her skin from his touch. Since the phone call after lunch she had been rushing around her little cottage, 'preparing'. She'd arranged for someone to care for her farm animals and even packed bags for them to take when S.H.I.E.L.D. picked them up. It seemed quite obvious to her that they were going to leave and not return for some time. Loki had watched all of this from the armchair by the fire. He had not hindered her, but he was certainly not going to help.

"Can I have a hug?" Efa asked, holding her arms out imploringly.

Loki sighed at this strange girl. For all her intelligence and maturity in some situations, in others she acted just like a child. She chewed on her lip as she waited for his answer and Loki was tempted to reject her as punishment for dragging him into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s path. In the end, however, he gave in and stood up so she could wrap her arms around him, loosely joining his around her back as she buried her head in his chest. Since he had let her touch him, he had become used to her physical nature, but it still baffled him.

"I promise you Loki," she said, looking up at him, "That I will not let them kill you, torture you or imprison you."

Loki's eyes were grim as he looked down at her. At least she understood the gravity of the situation and was under no illusions of how S.H.I.E.L.D. would treat him. Her promise was sweet, but he doubted it was one she could keep. After all he had done, one girl would not be able to sway the minds of the organisation he had infiltrated and attacked. As he watched her eyes blaze with determination however, he found himself musing that if such a thing _were_ possible, this mad, irrepressible, stubborn creature would be the one to do it.

He was about to point out the folly of her words when her form first stiffened, then slumped in his arms. Her Vision lasted mere seconds, but the impact of it was clear. Her eyes were wide when she looked up to his and he felt her hands grab his shirt behind his back.

"They're here," she told him detaching herself and running to the door, dog at her heels, "Or they will be, very soon."

Loki rolled his eyes and followed her hurriedly, wondering what she hoped to accomplish before Stark and his contraption had arrived. He pulled on his boots and found her stood in the snow by her buried vehicle, her eyes fixed beyond the gate to the lane.

"Efa, there is no point in you being out here!" he told her harshly, "You cannot hope to accomplish anything! Get back inside before they arrive and see you."

"Too late," she muttered, her eyes still staring through the billowing snow.

At her legs her dog's ears were pricked and he stared intently in the same direction. Loki followed their gaze but saw nothing of any nature, alarming or otherwise, approaching.

"Efanna," he said sternly, "There's nothing there."

She looked at him incredulously and started to mouth a protest, but was interrupted by a sudden flurry of snow and a large thud as a gleaming red and gold suit landed before them. Loki noticed Efanna breathe a sigh of relief. He only wished his thoughts could be so calm.

Stark looked around in his ostentatious armour. His gaze halted as he caught sight of Loki.

"_Oh, it's you,"_ the metallic voice sounded as he raised one arm threateningly.

Loki held his hands before him, painfully aware of how incapable he would be at surviving an attack from Stark's suit.

"No, it's not!" Efa called, causing Stark to notice her for the first time, "Well, it is _him_, but he's not what I called you about."

Stark raised his faceplate to reveal his sceptical expression. He didn't lower his arm.

"So you're not bothered about the Norse God of Mischief and Lies standing right behind you?" he asked sarcastically.

"Not at all," she replied calmly, "And he's not actually a God you know, he just inspired one. No, I'm worried about _that_."

She pointed up the lane and both Stark and Loki turned.

"What the snow?" Stark asked sardonically.

"What? No!" Efa cried, "The creepy-ass misty ice creatures coming towards us!"

She looked between the two men, both of whom had an eyebrow raised in almost an identical expression.

"Please tell me you can see them," she said, uncertainty creeping into her voice for the first time.

"There's nothing to see, ginger," Stark told her arrogantly.

She glanced back to the lane then turned her head to Loki, eyes pleading.

"I can't see anything there, Efa," he assured her, locking his eyes back on the overzealous war machine in front of him and trying to figure out a way he might be able to survive should a fight break out.

"Great," she muttered ironically, her eyes darting around the yard and back to the lane, "You can at least see the mist though can't you?"

Loki let his eyes shift back to follow hers. There _did_ seem to be a patch of mist gathering and moving towards them. Stark however, wasn't feeling so generous.

"Right, once you've finished freaking out about the weather, you mind telling me what you're doing with an interplanetary war criminal in your back yard?"

Efanna, however, ignored him, her eyes alighting on the ground at Stark's feet where the snow had melted from the heat of his thrusters. With impressive speed she ducked down by his legs and straightened, hurtling something over the gate and into the patch of mist. Stark and Loki watched her strange actions with curiosity which strengthened to amazement as the small stone she had thrown suddenly stopped in midair about a foot on the other side of the gate, froze over and then exploded into a thousand tiny shards.

"Uh, right," Stark muttered, his visor reattaching itself, his attention now focussed on the invisible force approaching the gate before them.

"_Now_ do you believe me?"

Loki moved to Efa's side as the already frosty wood of the gate slowly iced over completely. Stark sent a few blasts through the faint patch of mist but this achieved nothing but melting a small patch of the ice and singing some of the bushes down the lane.

"_Well, you're right, I think there's something there,"_ Stark's voice admitted from his helmet as the gate started to crumble and disintegrate, _"I can't see it though."_

"Nor I," Loki agreed, one arm hovering about Efanna's waist, ready to pull her away.

At their feet, the dog gave a low growl, his hackles raised and his teeth bared.

"Well, Pip can see them," Efa told them.

"_Great, we're being attacked by an invisible force of icy death,"_ Stark drawled mockingly, sending a few more blasts into the air above the gate, _"But don't worry, the _dog_ can see them."_

"You missed," Efa informed him, "They keep dodging."

"_Well my aim would be a lot better if I could see the damn things,"_ he retorted.

At this point the gate finally gave up and exploded, sending icy splinters across the yard. Loki jerked Efanna to the side as one flew past them, grazing her cheek. The patterns of the snowfall seemed to shift slightly, and Loki guessed their attackers were moving towards them. Suddenly Efa squirmed within his grasp and managed to wriggle out of his arms.

"Don't you _dare_!" she called angrily, running over to place herself before the door to her hen barn, which was slowly icing over just as the gate had done, "I've not lost a single one of them to foxes, I sure as hell ain't losing one to you!"

Loki rolled his eyes as he called out to her, determined to get this stupid girl to see sense. Of all the things to risk her life for, she chose her _chickens_. Ice was starting to form on her clothes and her breath frosted in front of her. His voice died in his throat however as she slowly toppled to the ground.

"Damn," he muttered, racing over to her limp form. Of all the times for her to have a Vision.

He knelt down between her and where he assumed the creatures to be, gently shaking her shoulder and preparing to pick her up when he felt an icy touch on his shoulder. He turned his head, but could see nothing behind him but a slight patch of mist. The presence of the creature was obvious however, not only from the cold pressure he felt on his shoulder but the way the fabric of his shirt was crackling and disintegrating to fall apart in tatters. With shock, Loki watched as the pale blue of his Frost Giant form washed across his skin from the creature's touch, spreading across his back and chest and down his arm. As it did so, the numbing cold seemed to lessen.

All this happened within seconds and Loki's response was instinctive and equally as quick. He span, bracing his arm out and felt a jarring thud as it impacted on the creature his eyes could not see. The pressure on his shoulder disappeared and the mist seemed to retreat somewhat from behind his back. Loki looked down at his arm in wonder. The milky paleness of his usually alabaster skin had given way wholly to the blue of his Frost Giant form. The raised markings that decorated his body had appeared along his fingers and hand, stretching up across his arm and down into his chest.

"Stark!" Efanna called suddenly, jolting Loki from his wonderings, "Use thermal imaging!"

Loki looked about to see Stark glance down at her briefly before turning back to the patch of mist.

"_Gotcha,"_ he muttered.

He raised his arms again in a rapid series of blasts that this time struck their targets. A high pitched screech echoed throughout the valley and the mist suddenly dissipated, a strange mixture of water and ashes falling to the floor in about half a dozen small piles across the yard. Loki looked back at Efanna to see her sat in the snow, propped up on one arm and grinning. Noticing his gaze she turned her head to him and her white eyes widened in wonder. She reached her hand up to touch Loki's chest. He watched her intently as her fingers gently traced the patterns on his skin. Although he knew she had Seen him like this before, Loki was still surprised that she did not recoil in horror. As they watched her hand travel down his arm, the colour slowly faded from his skin, leaving it once again pale and unblemished. Loki felt himself hold his breath slightly as he waited for her reaction.

"Huh. Well that's useful," was all she muttered.

Loki raised his eyebrows at her.

"That's all you have to say?" he asked hesitantly.

"It looks prettier in real life," she added, shrugging as Loki's stare turned incredulous.

"Okay, hate to break up the love-in," Stark interrupted before Loki could say anything further, "But what the hell was just up with his skin?"

Loki's gaze hardened and Efanna sighed as, in unison, they turned back to the man of iron.

"It's because he's a Jötunn," Efa explained patiently, "Or at least he was born one."

o

Tony's question of 'What's a Jötunn?' was drowned out by Loki's more insistent one.

"What do you mean 'at least I was _born_ a Jötunn'?" he asked, his voice low and dangerous.

Efanna sighed. She guessed he would've picked up on her phrasing. This was going to require some very delicate explanation and she rather wished Tony Stark wasn't breathing down their necks whilst she had to give it. She fixed her eyes on Loki's, internally begging him to remain calm.

"I mean what I say," she told him softly, "You were born Jötunn, but that's not what you are now. At least not entirely. And, as you guessed, I don't just mean that because you're currently in mortal form."

Loki's eyes were guarded but he was silent and waited for her to explain. That was certainly an improvement on when she'd first met him. Perhaps he was ready to hear this after all.

"When Odin found you, Loki, he made a choice," she began to explain, "He chose to take you as his son and in doing so he evoked a magic, a magic which made his choice irrevocable. When he first held you, that day in the temple, this magic changed you. Your skin turned from blue to milk, your eyes from red to green. In touching you and deciding to take you as his own, he transferred some of his own being into you. From that day forward you were never purely Jötunn, but a mixture, a hybrid of sorts. Jötunn from your birth parents, Asgardian from your adopted father and later Frigga, when she also accepted you as her son. In doing so they became your true parents, Loki, for they contributed as much to your existence as either Laufey or your birth mother, and that's just in a physical sense. Odin and Frigga were the ones to raise you, and so in truth, you are more Asgardian than Jötunn."

Loki was silent as he crouched in front of her, emotions flickering behind his eyes. Efa could see that his jaw was clenched and he looked on the verge of punching something. Or perhaps her. She pushed herself upwards so she too was crouching as she was starting to get wet from the snow. She reached her hand out hesitantly, but couldn't decide whether this was a good idea or not, so she left it hovering between them.

"Did you never wonder why you never looked like a Frost Giant, even before you could control your appearance with magic?" she asked him gently.

"Did you just say _Frost Giant_?" Tony asked from behind her.

Efanna shot him a look that could have quelled an entire army and he held his hands out before him in defeat. At least living with Pepper was teaching him _some_ sense.

"Loki?" she asked timidly, turning back to him.

"Why did Odin never tell me?"

His voice was barely audible and Efa could feel the anger radiating from him. There was a part of her that was having to fight not to draw back from his barely controlled rage but she knew she could not abandon him now. Any move she made could be taken by him as a rejection in this vulnerable state, and that would ruin everything, ruin him.

"He knew that you already saw yourself as an outsider," she told him quietly, "And he knew that if he told you the truth of your birth that it would only confirm that opinion in your eyes. He wanted to wait until you could prove to _yourself_ what he and everyone else saw – that you were a true and loved Prince of Asgard. He hoped that then, when you learnt the truth, it would not change you."

The green of Loki's eyes burned and the tendons of his arm were straining.

"And when I found out for myself? Why not tell me this then?" he asked harshly, "Why leave me to believe I was a monster he had always despised?"

"You didn't give him much of a chance, Loki," Efa reminded him cautiously.

Gingerly she placed her outstretched hand on his arm, only to have him roughly shove it away. Although she was not surprised by his action, Loki's rejection stabbed at her heart.

"I'm not saying he was right to keep it from you," she assured him, "I'm not saying I agree with his actions, that he didn't make mistakes. I'm only telling you his reasoning for them."

"And why did _you_ not tell me?" Loki asked dangerously, locking his eyes to hers as his voice raised, "If you knew of this all along, why did you wait until now to include me in information that I should have known from the beginning?"

"What would you have done had I told you earlier, Loki?" she pleaded, trying to push down tears as she felt how close she might be to losing him, "It has taken me so long to gain even the smallest amount of your trust, and you have fought me every step of the way. I have never lied to you, but if I had told you everything you would have thrown it back in my face. You know I don't see you as a monster, Loki, and I never have; but you have only just accepted that. You weren't ready to hear this! If I had told you earlier you would have accused me of trying to manipulate you, just as you are seconds from doing now. Loki-"

She reach out and held his face with both hands, not letting him pull away.

"You know I would never hurt you," she told him firmly, staring him straight in the eye and not backing down, "You know I would have told you the very _second_ I thought it would help you, rather than do you harm."

There was a long silence and Efanna could hear Tony shuffling awkwardly behind them but she did not let her gaze waver. Eventually Loki reached up to detach her hands from his face. He held them for a moment and gave her a single, slow nod, then stood up to face Stark. Efa breathed a sigh of relief and Pip came up to nudge her cheek. That could have gone a lot, lot worse. He hadn't even hit anything.

"Okay, first things first," Efa said as she stood up and brushed snow off her trousers, "You two – no fighting."

She stared at each of them sternly, almost like a mother scolding two arguing siblings, before turning her attention to Tony.

"I take it you have questions," she commented calmly.

"Uh, yeah," he replied, an eyebrow raised, "Where shall I start? Maybe, why the hell were you able to see those … things, and I wasn't? Or perhaps why you're getting all cosy with Daddy Issues here? How about how were you even able to call me in the first place – I kinda get why now; but no one even knows that number, and how did you even know this was going to happen anyway?"

"Don't know; bad choice of nickname; already told you; you'll find out soon enough."

Loki smirked at Efanna's offhand response and she had to resist the urge to grin back at him. She knew how much her flippant remarks annoyed him and how much he would enjoy seeing them directed at someone else. Tony's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Okay then," he retorted, "Let's start with you telling me just how the hell Rudolf here is even _in_ some snowy farm in the middle of God knows where instead of Asgard where I was under the impression he was being punished? By the way, what happened to the horns?" he added glancing at Loki.

"We're in the middle of Wales," Efa corrected, "And Odin banished him so I went to Cardiff to meet him, he strangled me for a bit, then I brought him here. And the horns are taking a leave of absence. Mercifully."

Both men now had their eyebrows raised, one in disbelief, the other in amusement.

"Riiight," Tony drawled, "So you're saying he strangled you, so you decided to bring him home?"

"I brought him home because he didn't have anywhere else to go, not because he strangled me. I'm trying to break him of that habit, but he's not as easy to train as Pip."

Pip nudged his head against her leg at the mention of his name and she reached down to give him a scratch between the ears.

"What, so he's like, your pet?" Stark asked, eyebrow raising further. Loki's eyes flashed dangerously.

"Phft, of course not!" she snorted, "Who'd keep _Loki_ as a pet?"

"I can see the attraction."

"Yeah, well your sanity is almost as questionable as his."

"Eh, I'm not sure I'd go that far," Tony argued, shrugging slightly, " And if he's not your pet, then what is your relationship with him?"

"He's my friend," Efanna said with a smile, "Just like you."

"Nice thought sunshine, but I've only just met you, you're not my friend."

"I never said I was, merely that you were mine."

"Isn't that the same thing?"

"Nope," she said with aplomb.

"Is she always like this?" Stark asked, turning to Loki who stood with his arms folded against his bare chest, watching their verbal sparring match with amusement.

"You get used to it," he replied dryly, with a long look at Efanna. She grinned and poked her tongue out at the two of them.

"Okay, so you're telling me that you called me up out of nowhere on a number I somehow have but haven't given to you, in order to save you from an attack by invisible ice monsters that you somehow knew was going to happen several hours before it actually did, whilst neglecting to tell me you are currently keeping an insane Asgardian/Jötunn hybrid as your house guest, who you now claim to be your friend?" Tony recapped, sounding profoundly cynical.

"Pretty much, yeah," Efa replied happily.

"You, missy, have some serious problems," he told her, "And what the hell is with your eyes? Are you blind or something?"

"I'll let you figure that out for yourself. How long till the jet gets here?"

Tony gave her a very long stare to which she smiled innocently back at.

"Oi, Legolas," he said into the com in his helmet, "What's your ETA?"

"_We're locked onto your location, should be about three minutes."_ Efanna and Loki could just make out the response as Tony's helmet was open. _"You figured out what our mysterious summons was for?"_

Efa took Loki's hand and gave it a quick squeeze when they heard Clint Barton's voice.

"Yeah," Stark replied, with a long look at the two of them, "And you are not going to believe it."

"_That sounds promising."_

"Remember, be nice," Efa murmured in Loki's ear, gaining her a scowl, before she turned back to Tony, "Three minutes? They must've come from the Helicarrier then. I'll go get the bags."

"You _packed_?" he asked.

"Well duh, we're going to need a change of clothes and S.H.I.E.L.D. are _not_ getting me into one of those catsuits," Efanna retorted, "Natasha might look good in them, but there's no way I could pull one off."

She grinned and ran back towards the cottage before he could say anything else, leaving him staring after her with his mouth slightly open.

* * *

**Eeep! What d'you think? I hope you liked my explanation of Loki's heritage. It always bothered me in the movie that they never really explained why he didn't look like a Frost Giant until he was touched by one/touched the casket, even before he'd learnt magic. This explanation popped into my head and made a lot of sense, and I also cross-checked it with the movie, so it works! I think Odin made a lot of mistakes in his parenting, but that he is really a nice guy, just a bit hopeless when it comes to understanding how things might affect people's feelings. My dad's a bit similar, but he has mum to correct him, and you can't really correct Odin 'cause he's King and all that so he didn't have that saving grace! I don't know if it will ever get that far, but I think it would be really cool to get Efa to meet Odin at some point! She certainly wouldn't be worried about giving him a piece of her mind!**

**I hope I'm writing Stark okay, he's a complicated one, and now that more and more characters are coming in things are going to end up being quite complicated! I'm just hoping I can do everyone justice! Any more nickname ideas for Stark to call _anyone_ would be greatly appreciated. I REALLY suck at nicknames. If I use one of yours I shall try and give you credit, but I may well forget, in which case tell me off and I'll amend it :D Thank you to all who've given ideas already. They shall be used, I am sure!**

**So yeah, give me reviews and I'll hopefully have the next chapter up soon! I've already written most of it :O but I think it needs a fair bit of tweaking still, and I want to know what you think of this one first, so I can change any bits you think I'm doing wrong!**

**Oops, really long here, sorry! Thanks so much for all your support! x**


	18. I'll Explain Once We Get There

**OMG! 90 reviews! Thank you, this is just incredible! Sorry if this sounds repetitive, but I'm just so grateful to you all for reading this, let alone reviewing! ^_^**

Once again I've not been able to get back to you all personally - I'm sorry! Your reviews all mean so much, but I'm having a really tough time with my health at the moment, it's taking everything I've got just to get on and write so I hope you'll understand xXx

o

**Chapter Eighteen:**

**I'll Explain Once We Get There**

* * *

"Oh! And tell Clint that if he lands on any of my sheep I'll set Pip on him!" Efanna called over her shoulder before disappearing through the door, leaving Loki and Stark alone in the courtyard with the afore mentioned dog, who sat grinning up at them.

"Did she seriously just threaten to set her dog on us because of her _sheep_?" Stark asked incredulously.

"It's really not that surprising; you saw what she did to try and protect her chickens," Loki answered, moving to lean against the bonnet of Efanna's Land Rover and keeping his eyes fixed firmly on the armoured man in front of him.

"That was why she did that? Wow. That's one messed up set of priorities."

"You have no idea," Loki told him flatly.

"Pretty unexpected of you though," Stark said with an inquisitive gaze, "Rushing in there to save her an all that. You crushing on her or something?"

Loki gave him an icy glare.

"Okay, don't get your panties in a bunch, it was just a question."

Loki rolled his eyes. Of all the people Efa had to leave him with, it just _had_ to be Stark. His mind was still reeling from her revelations about his heritage, parentage and biology, and he was not particularly comfortable with the notion of anyone else being party to such knowledge. He would make sure however, mortal form or not, that if Stark ever dared mention his moment of weakness, that he would sincerely regret it.

As he considered what had transpired he decided that he could forgive Efanna. Her eyes had glowed earnest and honest, as they always did, when she had told him and he was forced to admit that her explanation for not telling him sooner was a just one. Odin, however, was another matter, but he firmly pushed such thoughts aside for the moment. He could ponder these new questions of his existence at a time when he wasn't being watched carefully by a man whom most likely was moments from killing him.

"Seriously though, what _are_ you doing here?" Stark asked after the silence had become somewhat uncomfortable, "You don't really expect me to believe she just turned up and you followed her here like a puppy, do you?"

"She is an incredibly stubborn person," Loki answered with a sigh, "I sincerely doubt there is anything she would be unable to convince someone to do if she wanted to enough."

"And why didn't you just jab her with the glow stick of destiny and turn Cardiff into your own personal pile of rubble like you did Manhattan?" Stark asked suspiciously, "What the hell were you even doing in _Cardiff_?"

Although he was not being overtly threatening, Loki noticed that Stark was quite obviously clenching and unclenching his fist, as though aching to blast him with it. Loki rubbed his temples and hoped that Efanna would hurry up.

"I didn't have much choice in where I landed," he explained tersely, "And as much as I'm sure Cardiff would be much improved if it were 'my own personal pile of rubble' as you put it, I am loath to have to admit that it is beyond my current capabilities. When Odin … banished me, he also took away my power and locked me in this disgusting _mortal_-" he spat the word "-form."

Loki ground his teeth together. It sickened him to have to admit his current weakness to such an enemy, but he felt it sensible to let it be known that he could not _currently_ cause any damage. He was under no illusions of how violent the '_Avengers_' were likely to be in his treatment, and if such an admission might head the majority of that off, then it was worth the cost to his pride. Playing safe for the moment would gain him advantages in the long run.

"Wow, that's gotta sting," Stark let out with a low whistle, "Now you're no better than the rest of us, huh?"

Loki growled.

"I am infinitely superior to you and all your pathetic race," he spat angrily, "No matter what form I am forced to reside in."

"Whoa, calm it down, princess," Stark quipped, raising his eyebrows, "Don't make me tase you."

Before Loki could respond, a sudden guest of wind sent the snow swirling around them as a dark shape descended from the low clouds to land in the field beside the lane. The rear door to the jet opened up and an agent disembarked, jumping the fence that connected the field to the courtyard and pacing towards them. Loki's eyes narrowed as he recognised the form of Clint Barton. This was going to be an unpleasant meeting.

As soon as he saw Loki, Barton's hands instantly reached for the gun at his hip, levelling it at Loki's head.

"What the hell is he doing here?" he demanded of Stark.

"Apparently he strangled her so she brought him home as a pet," Stark drawled ironically.

"What? Who's 'she'?" Barton asked, looking confused.

The question was answered by Efanna, who at that moment ran out of the cottage, dropping the bags she was holding in the snow by the door, and threw her arms around Barton, forcing him to lower his gun. Loki noticed she had once again donned her black gloves and was particularly careful to keep her head away from the agent's.

"Clint!" she cried, joyfully.

The agent looked baffled. Stark raised an eyebrow again. Loki scowled.

"Oops," she said, pulling back, "You don't know me yet do you?"

"Should I?"

"It's alright, I just get my whens a bit confused. How's Natasha? She recovered from Alaska yet? Or has that not happened yet either?"

"Who told you Nat was in Alaska?" he asked suspiciously, shooting Stark with a quick glare and training his gun once again on Loki's head.

"Not me!" Stark protested, holding his hands up.

"She's not there right now is she?" Efa asked, biting her lip.

Barton narrowed his eyes at her and shifted his grip on his gun.

"Uh, it might be a good idea to call Fury and tell him to get her out of there," Efa said when no one gave her an answer, "Alaska is _not_ a good place for Natasha to be right now."

"Okay, would someone mind telling me what the hell is going on?" Barton asked impatiently.

"You know, it's a good question, Bright Eyes," Stark prompted, looking pointedly at Efanna, "You're currently in possession of a _lot_ of classified information, not to mention the multidimensional war criminal back there. You've got quite a bit of explaining to do."

"I'm well aware of that," Efa responded with remarkable calmness, walking back to the bags and picking up Loki's leather coat.

"Here, I don't want you getting hypothermia," she said to him, brushing some snow off it.

Loki took it with one eyebrow raised, wondering if she really knew what she was doing.

"Okay," she said, her tone business-like as she turned back to the two armed men, "I'll tell you everything you want to know, and perhaps a fair amount you don't – once we get back to the Helicarrier or wherever it is you're planning on taking us and everyone's there to hear it. I don't want to have to go over it more than once, it's far too bloody complicated for that.

"But," she added sternly, "Conditions. We will come willingly, both of us, so you've got to promise not to harm us in any way, unless it is provoked. And by provoked I mean provoked _now_, you can't go using Manhattan as an excuse to beat Loki senseless. I know he deserved it, but let's at least talk things through first, okay?"

There was a long silence and the two men exchanged sceptical glances, Barton's aim not moving even an inch.

"You don't seriously expect us just to treat Loki like nothing ever happened do you?" he asked harshly, "After everything he did?"

"I'm not expecting you to be friendly," Efanna assured them, her tone solemn, "Just not to actually be violent. I know as well as you do the wrongs he has done. I just think he should be given a chance to explain himself before you all go apeshit on him. Or at least I think _I_ should be given a chance to explain for him. After all, I'm the only one who can claim to be fair, considering the circumstances."

"You think you know do you?" Barton spat, "You think you understand what that bastard has to pay for?"

Loki watched as Efanna's face fell. Slowly she walked towards the armed agent, not faltering even when he turned his gun on her. She stopped only when the barrel was mere centimetres away from her chest.

"I understand far more than you could possibly know," she said softly.

The pain was evident in her voice and for the first time it truly dawned on Loki that she had experienced everything he had put the 'Avengers' through during his invasion. She had suffered all that pain just as they had.

"How the hell are we even supposed to trust you?" Barton asked sternly, although he seemed affected somehow by Efa's obvious pain. Loki knew all too well how her honesty seemed to flow from her and make it almost impossible to believe her to be false.

"All I can do is promise that you can," she said, "And promise, on Loki's behalf as well as my own, that we shall cause you no harm as long as you cause us none."

The blanket of snow that covered the world around them seemed to exacerbate the silence and heightened the tension until it was almost unbearable, even for Loki. The sight of Efanna standing in front of a gun, held be one whom he knew only too well to be a trained and ruthless assassin, troubled him.

"You said 'conditions'," Stark pointed out, after it became obvious that an agreement did some seem to be forthcoming, "What are your others?"

"Only one other thing," Efanna said, moving her gaze to him, "Pip comes too."

"Uh-uh, no way," Stark protested, "We are _not_ taking the dog with us."

"Then I'm not coming either," Efanna said, crossing her arms, "And neither is Loki."

Loki had to admire her courage. The two men were staring at her in disbelief and Barton's hands were still clenched firmly around the handle of his gun. Efa however looked completely unruffled, staring them down just as adeptly as Loki could have managed. Loki couldn't help the smirk that slid onto his face. He had warned Stark about her stubbornness.

"Look, kid, this is a top secret military base we're going to, not Disneyland," Stark told her with irritation.

"I know that; dogs aren't allowed in Disneyland," Efa responded, somewhat irrationally Loki thought.

"They're not allowed at S.H.I.E.L.D. either, darling," Stark insisted impatiently.

"Well tough shit, 'cause where I go, Pip goes," she told him adamantly, "Remember that I've just called you here on a number I should never have known. That I was the only one who could see the creatures who were attacking us. That I'm the only one who has any idea of what they are and what they are planning. I know things you couldn't possibly dream of. And don't forget that I've kept Loki here without incident for over a month. You need me if there's any hope of stopping the current situation."

"We could always take you by force," Barton suggested calmly.

"Then I wouldn't talk."

"We have ways of making you," he reminded her.

"Wouldn't work. Believe me."

"You ever been tortured?" Stark asked her irritation suddenly showing on his face.

Loki let out a low growl and moved closer, unaware that her dog was doing the exact same thing.

"Not yet," she replied, with a darkness to her voice that Loki hadn't heard before, "But unless you're burning to know the names of all six hundred and forty nine Pokémon, and possibly the entire script of the new six and a half series of Doctor Who then I suggest you don't bother changing that."

Stark turned to Loki, with a baffled expression on his face.

"Is she serious?" he asked.

"I would assume so," he answered flatly, "I know not of what these Pokémon are, but I can vouch for her knowledge of Doctor Who, and I did warn you of her stubborn nature. If she believes she will be resistant to your torture, I'd believe her if I were you. There are far stranger things about her that you are yet to know."

"Look, can we all just calm down a bit?" Efanna asked, "I can practically smell the testosterone in the air and it's giving me a headache. Clint, Tony, I give you my complete and honest word that neither Loki nor I shall do anything that could, in any way be considered as harmful, unless you count sarcasm, as long as we are not harmed in return. I can't offer you any more than that, but there are far greater things to worry about here. You need me and like it or not, you're gonna need Loki too."

"And the dog?" Stark quipped.

"We've already gone over this, Pip stays with me, and there's nothing you can do to change that," Efa answered firmly, "Besides, he could see those creatures too, so you never know, he might be of use."

Silence fell again.

"If he makes one wrong move, I'm putting a bullet through his skull," Barton warned, gesturing to Loki. Slowly he lowered his gun.

"Thank you!" Efanna exclaimed, darting forward to hug the agent again and surprising all three men. She then turned to Stark, but wrinkled her nose and drew back.

"You can have your hug when you've taken the armour off," she told him, "You smell worse than the smithy at Asgard."

"Is that a promise?" Stark asked, quite obviously looking her up and down, "How the hell d'you even know what the smithy at Asgard even smells like anyway?"

Loki had to restrain himself from throwing a punch at Stark as he leered over Efa whilst she simply grinned enigmatically and went back to collect the bags she had abandoned. Stark noticed his gaze and gave him a particularly smug look. Loki ground his teeth together.

o

A few minutes later they were all, including Pip, sat in the jet as Clint and the co-pilot manoeuvred it up and away from Efanna's cottage in the valleys. Efa sat next to Loki, looking around with interest as Tony watched them carefully from the row of seats opposite. She smiled at him whenever she looked in his direction, hoping that might calm things down a little. It was worth a try at least.

"Heading back to base now, sir," Barton said into his headset as they entered the clouds.

"_You figure out what this was all about?"_ Fury's voice said from the dash.

"Partly, sir," Clint responded, "It seems like Stark arrived in the middle of an attack, made by as yet unidentifiable creatures. Apparently only the girl could see them, although they showed up on thermal imaging."

"_This is the same girl who called Stark, yes? Have you found out how she got that number?"_

"Not yet, sir, she's refusing to tell us until she's back at base. She says it's too complicated to go over more than once. There's something else though, sir. She had Loki with her."

"_Loki."_

Fury sounded incredulous and not a little angry. Efa supposed that wasn't really surprising.

"Yes sir. Apparently he was banished to Earth as his punishment, in mortal form whatever that means. Supposedly he's no more powerful than you or I now."

Clint's tone reflected his scepticism and Efa was fairly confident that Fury would share the same view. As long as Loki behaved however, they should be alright.

"We're bringing them both back to base, sir. They came willingly on the condition that they wouldn't be harmed unless provoked."

"_Loki made this condition did he?"_

Fury sounded pretty pissed off at the idea.

"No sir, the girl did, and she was pretty damn adamant about it. Said she wants us to give her a chance to explain Loki's actions."

There was a long silence before Fury's next response and Efa found herself holding her breath slightly. She was _not_ going to let Loki get hurt, but it was certainly going to be a tricky thing to achieve.

"_Keep me updated. We're moving the Helicarrier closer to you. I get the feeling I want to talk to this girl as soon as I can."_

"You can talk to me now if you like, Fury," Efa called out, surprising everyone else, "Though I'm not explaining anything till I get there. But that's not important, Clint said Natasha was currently in Alaska?"

She had stood up and moved to the back of Clint's seat, much to the alarm of the co-pilot, who seemed to be a newer agent and not particularly comfortable with Loki's presence, or her relationship with him. She didn't care though. She'd had a Vision of what would happen to Natasha in the Alaskan S.H.I.E.L.D. base, and none of the possibilities had been pretty.

"_Did he now?"_

"She already knew, sir," Clint protested, with an angry look at her.

"Yep, I did," Efa agreed, "So get angry with me, not him. Just tell me, is she there or not?"

"_We received word that she'd arrived fifteen minutes ago. Since then nothing."_ Fury admitted after a pause.

"Get her out," Efa told him, "Now."

"_What makes you think you have the authority to make that call?"_

"Because I know what will happen to her there. And trust me, none of it is good. Just get her out of there before she gets seriously hurt. You've lost the Alaska base. Don't lose her too."

There was a long pause and Efa was very aware of the hard stares she was receiving from everyone, even Loki.

"Look," she said desperately, "I can tell you everything she would have found out. I don't think anything serious has happened to her yet, but as long as she stays there it's only a matter of time. Please, just get her out. If she dies then I don't know if we can beat them."

"_You're sure about this?"_ Fury's voice asked doubtfully.

"Completely."

"… _Then I'm gonna go out on a limb here and take your advice. It'd better be worth it."_

"Thank you!" Efa said with relief.

"_When you get here you've got a lot of explaining to do."_

"Yeah, I know. You're not the first to tell me that."

The communication clicked off and Efanna was once again hit with the stares from everyone in the jet. Not really knowing what else to do she simply smiled at them. She was about to return to her seat when a hand grabbed her wrist. The shock of it almost made her scream and she thanked the Gods that she'd put on her gloves.

"What's going to happen to Natasha?" Clint asked her sternly, as she furiously tried to wriggle out of his grasp.

"I don't know yet," Efa answered evasively, "Several things _could_ happen. None of them are pleasant, but if Fury gets her out now, then hopefully it won't be anything worse than she's already survived."

"That's not exactly encouraging."

"I know," she conceded, "But right now, it's the best answer I can give. I promise I'll explain later. I just don't want to have to go through this more than once. Believe me, once I've told you, you'll understand."

He held her eyes, as well as her wrist for a moment, before reluctantly letting both go.

"I'll tell you as soon as I know she's okay, as long as you don't ask any questions, and as long as I actually find out myself," she promised.

He glanced up at her again, briefly, before turning his eyes back to the controls.

"Thanks," he muttered.

Efanna moved back to her seat and gave Pip's ears a fuss as silence once again settled on the vehicle. Tony still hadn't taken his eyes off her and Loki, who was sat with his arms folded and his green eyes once again cold and guarded. She pulled in the corner of her lip and began to chew on it, wishing she could burrow her way under Loki's arm for comfort. Somehow she didn't think he would particularly appreciate physical contact right now though, and it probably wouldn't endear her to the others on the jet. This was looking like it could be a very awkward few hours.

* * *

**So they are now on their way! Excited? I am!**

**Barton's a tricky one as we know so little of him from the movies seeing as he was under mind control for most of it. I think he'll thaw out a little as it goes on. I see him as agent first, person second when he's on a job, and we all know he's not particularly fond of Loki (and really, who would be after that?). Let me know what you thought of him :] And the chapter in general as always! I'm struggling again, but your reviews keep me writing :]**

**Oh! And thanks to _msgone_ for the idea of Bright Eyes as a nickname. I have a list of all the ones people have given me and I'm going to use them all when they seem most appropriate! :D**


	19. Arrival at SHIELD

**Over 100 reviews now! Wow! I LOVE YOU ALL!**

Blegh. Just blegh. This has really not been a good week for me, hence why it has taken so horribly long to write and upload this chapter. I'm very sorry :( It's also been a very complicated one to write as not a vast amount happens, but it all needs to be there to set other things up; plus I've had to do a awful lot of figuring out relative times and time zones and how long it would reasonably take to get things and people together and … urgh, lots of thinking required!

Thank you also for all the well wishes for my health :] Unfortunately my physical health problems are an ongoing thing which I've had for the past 10 years, and probably will have for the rest of my life :( Having a bit of a flare up at the moment, and seeing as two of the 3 main symptoms are brain-fog and fatigue it makes writing a bit of a bitch :( Add to that my anxiety and depression, and well … blegh! So thanks again, and please just be patient if it takes me a little longer to get things up every now and again! All your support is just amazing and it really keeps me going! Hopefully it won't take me as long to get the next chapter up!

o

**Chapter Nineteen:**

**Arrival at S.H.I.E.L.D.**

* * *

The journey took several hours and was spent mostly in silence. Efanna had collapsed several times, but Loki had been unable to ask what her Visions had contained due to the suspicious stares she was already getting in abundance whenever she lost consciousness. Evidently the first had detailed Agent Romanoff's fate as she had shot up from her slumped position with a relieved cry of "She's safe!" a few minutes before this was confirmed by Fury's voice over the radio. The looks she had received from the others on the jet has been surprised to say the least, and Efa had be forced to wave away another tirade of questions. Loki agreed that it would be sensible to wait to tell S.H.I.E.L.D. of her abnormalities, recalling his own violent reaction to the knowledge that she had Seen his entire life.

Efa was slumped against his shoulder when Barton announced their imminent arrival at S.H.I.E.L.D.'s floating airbase. She shifted slightly, nuzzling her head against his arm, earning a raised eyebrow from Stark, before turning her pale eyes up to meet his. There was a gentle warning in them which made Loki's jaw tighten slightly as he wondered what she had Seen. She pushed herself upright again, giving his arm a gentle squeeze as she did so, and looked around. On noticing the looming runway of the Helicarrier she sat up a little straighter and sucked in the corner of her lip once again.

On disembarking they were met by Fury, and several armed agents, all of whom had their weapons firmly pointed at Loki's chest. Loki didn't know whether he should be flattered or annoyed that he was treated in such a way even in this useless mortal form.

"The guns really aren't necessary, you know," Efa noted as they were escorted towards the Director, "I've said over and over, we're not going to do anything."

"Given what happened the last time Loki was here, I think I'd rather take the precaution," Fury told her, "And what the hell is a dog doing on my airbase?" he added, somewhat disbelievingly.

Efanna sighed slightly.

"This is Pip," she explained, "I won't go anywhere without him. Don't worry though, he's friendly and very well trained; pretty much the opposite of Loki. And as for Loki, you have a fair point I suppose, but I promise you, this time he's not going to cause you any harm."

"And you know this, how?" Fury asked, his eyebrow raised, evidently ignoring the dog for the moment.

"Because he knows I'll kick his skinny arse if he tries anything," she said with a smile, "That or cover him in paint."

It was quite obvious that no one but Loki had any idea how to respond to this. If the general population of eyebrows rose any higher they were in danger or running out of forehead. Loki couldn't help but smirk at the effect Efa's offhand confidence and general strangeness was having on the assembled S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives.

"I take it you are 'Efanna' then?"

"Yup, that's me," she confirmed cheerfully, "Nice to meet you at long last. Although, I say that, but to be honest, I'm rather glad we haven't met sooner. Is Thor here yet?"

Her sudden, unexpected, question seemed to throw the Director for a moment.

"Should he be?" he asked.

"Well, if he's not here now then he will be soon. Like I said, I get my whens a bit mixed up."

"And why is that?"

"I persuaded Loki to call for him. This current situation is a lot bigger than you realise, we're going to need him."

Loki ground his teeth as everyone else processed this information.

"That wasn't what I was asking," Fury pointed out.

"I know."

Efanna smiled in her infuriatingly innocent way and looked around. Her eyes suddenly brightened and she darted through the ring of agents, too suddenly and deftly for anyone to stop her, her dog bounding along at her heels. Loki's eyes followed her path and narrowed as he spotted the cause for her unexpected distraction.

"Steve!" she cried, delightedly flying into his arms as she had Barton's.

Half the soldiers around Loki turned their guns to her at her movement, looking to their Director for some idea of what they should do. Although her actions annoyed him, Loki couldn't help but be amused by the effect they were having on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s finest. Captain America stared at Efa for a moment before looking towards them in confusion, his hands on her shoulders.

"Exactly _what_ are you doing now?" Fury asked sounding half amused, half incredulous.

"Does no one know what a hug is?" Efa replied with exasperation, pulling back from Rodgers and turning to them.

"We know what they are, Ginger" Stark informed her from behind Loki, "Just not why you're giving so many of them."

"Because hugs are a good way of saying 'I come in peace and want to be friends'," she explained with a grin, before turning back to the Captain, who still looked rather shell shocked.

"Hello by the way," she added, "Was that a bit too forward? Sorry."

"Uh, no ma'am, it's fine," he replied, sounding somewhat unsure, "I think."

He looked over to the group of baffled agents, Loki standing with his arms crossed flanked by Barton and Stark, with Fury overseeing everything with his one eye. Efa followed his gaze, her expression expectant.

Everything seemed to pause for a moment as the bizarre nature of the situation settled in, then S.H.I.E.L.D. jumped into action. With a few brief words and gestures they were being escorted along corridors through the giant base Loki was struck by a sense of déjà vu, only this time he didn't want to be here. He and Efa were separated by several agents. Efa had sighed at this, but hadn't otherwise complained, so Loki had kept his own tongue to himself. He thought it best to simply follow her lead. She still seemed to give him a gentle warning whenever their eyes met and appeared to have some idea of what she was doing, which was considerably more than he had. Instead he occupied his mind trying to find ways in which he might be able to survive this encounter relatively unharmed. He had been considerably injured when last held captive by S.H.I.E.L.D., even though he had been in his true form at that point in time. If he made a wrong move here things would not be pretty.

Eventually they stopped in front of a door, which opened to a familiar sight. A large room containing a round glass cell. The soldiers at his side shoved him roughly and he sighed as he was once again locked within their cage. He looked back to see Efanna still being held in the corridor before the door closed, leaving him in the room with Barton and a handful of soldiers. The agent crossed to the control panel and looked back at him, letting his fingers brush over the buttons.

"You know I'm really hoping you give me an excuse to press this," he said, his voice low, "There are more satisfying ways of killing you of course, but I think I'd settle for this, just so I know you're well and truly gone."

Loki held his hands up and crossed to the small cot, sitting down and leaning against the glass behind him.

"Efanna promised I wouldn't try anything."

"And you're gonna stick to that, are you?" the agent asked disbelievingly.

"She would not have made such a promise had she thought that I would not keep it."

Barton grunted in disbelief.

"What the hell have you done to her?" he asked angrily.

As he strutted up to the glass wall of Loki's cell his fingers once again reached down to his gun. When Loki replied that he had done nothing whatsoever to Efanna, Barton scowled.

"Bullshit. She stood in front of a _gun_ for you. Who would ever do that _willingly_?"

Loki sighed, a small twinge of regret plucking at his heart. _You see Efanna_, he thought, _everyone else thinks me impossible to love. What is it that you see in me?_ On thinking of her his eyes trailed back to the door of the room. Where had they taken her, he wondered? And what was to be her fate when she got there? His eyes hardened as he remembered Barton's cold suggestion of torture.

"Perhaps that is something you should ask her, and not me?" he said, trying to keep his tone calm.

"Oh, I'm sure we will," the agent responded coldly.

"If you harm her…" Loki started, his tone matching Barton's.

"You'll do what?" he interrupted, "One wrong move and you're falling thirty thousand feet, remember? Not even you were able to escape this cage without … help."

Barton bit off the last word bitterly and Loki could only imagine how much the agent must hate himself for the damage he had caused his own organisation whilst under his mind control.

"Why the hell do you even care anyway?" he asked bitterly.

The question stalled Loki for a moment. It was one he had asked himself, over and over. How had Efanna managed to wriggle so firmly beneath his skin that he sought to defend her in such a way? Even after she had led him to this place, to be imprisoned in such a way? Anger crossed his mind briefly as he thought of the idiotic promise she had made him. How could she have possibly thought she would be able to change whatever fate S.H.I.E.L.D. had in store for him?

Before he was able to voice any answer though, the door once again opened and Efanna was led in by Fury, escorted by Stark and Rodgers. She gave Loki a smile and he was surprised at the relief it brought.

"Are you sure about this?" Rodgers asked her as he led her to the door of Loki's cage, Fury walking over to the control panel.

"Of course," she replied calmly, "He's not going to do anything to me."

Loki's brow furrowed as the men exchanged a long glance, and Fury nodded.

"What's going on, sir?" Barton asked as the Director keyed in a code and pushed a button, causing the door to the cell to open.

"She's going to stay in there with him," Fury explained, his tone brooking no argument, "She wouldn't accept any other alternative, so until Thor arrives, as she assures me he will, that's where the two of them will stay."

Loki looked questioningly at Efanna as she calmly walked in with her dog, the door closing behind her. She merely smiled at him.

"What? Sir, are you sure that's a good idea?" Barton protested, but he was quickly silenced.

"She maintains that she will be safe. Rodgers will be on guard duty in case anything _does_ happen."

Loki let his eyes travel across the room as Efa came to sit on the cot next to him. The faces of the men in the room ranged from angry, to disbelieving, to distrustful, to simply worried. Clearly no one could understand why anyone would voluntarily _choose_ to spend time in his company. Loki was having a hard time adjusting to the idea himself. Whilst they had been in Wales she had had little choice, but here there were many people she could spend time with and talk to, many even of those whose lives she had Seen. Why was she choosing to stay with him?

"Don't forget, you promised I could have some water for Pip," Efanna called out as all but Captain America moved to leave the room.

"Get her damn dog a bowl," Fury instructed one of the soldiers before leaving the room.

Said soldier saluted and left, plunging the room into a sudden silence. Rodgers sighed and moved a chair closer to the glass, obviously taking his job of watching over them seriously. Efa smiled at him and pulled her legs up, leaning back against the glass like Loki. Loki watched her carefully.

"Why are you here?" he asked finally.

"We're waiting for Thor before I tell them all my big secret," she replied cheerfully, "Although we'll have to wait for Natasha too. Luckily Bruce is already on base, like Steve. It seems they had everyone on high alert after the weather suddenly changed, and my phone call was strange enough to bring them together."

Loki wondered whether she had deliberately misinterpreted his question.

"But why are you _here_?" he clarified, "They weren't going to lock you up by the sounds of it."

Efa turned her smile to him.

"I promised I wouldn't leave you, Loki," she told him earnestly.

Loki raised his eyebrow.

"I remember no such promise."

"I haven't promised that yet?" Efa asked, confused, "Oh, well, here, I'm promising now – I won't leave you, Loki."

Loki shook his head slightly, and forced the strange feelings her words evoked to one side. He doubted he would ever understand this strange mortal.

"Although you did promise you would not let them imprison me," he reminded her archly.

"This is only a temporary arrangement," she told him, poking her tongue out, "Once Thor gets here and confirms that you can't do any real damage I'm sure they'll at the very least move us to more suitable living quarters. This bed isn't really big enough for both of us. But I'm hoping they won't feel the need to lock us up at all. I'm confident they'll decide to trust me, and by extension they'll have to trust you, or at least trust _my_ trust in you."

Once again, his stomach seemed to clench at her words.

"Do you really trust me, Efa?" he asked softly.

"Of course I do, Loki," she assured him, nudging him playfully on the shoulder, "I thought you knew that?"

Loki's eyes met hers and held them for a long time. There was not the slightest hint of falsehood or deception in them. Once again, she fully meant what she said.

"How are you doing?" she asked carefully after a few moments had passed.

Loki knew what she was alluding to and his body tensed. How _was_ he coping, once again finding out that his entire life had been a lie? The confusion, the sense of dislocation, his anger at Odin; all bubbled up inside him for a moment, but again he firmly pushed them aside. Now was not the time to consider such things.

He only realised that his thoughts had taken him completely away from his surroundings when Efanna gently touched his shoulder, jerking him back to reality. Her eyes searched his, but she didn't say anything, seeming to understand his emotional turbulence.

She gave his arm a quick squeeze, then turned her gaze back to Rodgers, engaging him in small talk, which he didn't seem to have much idea of how to respond to. Loki got the strangest notion that she was doing it deliberately to let him think.

* * *

**So, was it okay? I'm really not that confident about this one, but my head's too foggy to try and make it better. Also apologies for any spelling/grammar mistakes in this one – brain-fog makes it particularly hard to spot them. It was going to be longer, but I thought Thor's arrival probably needed a chapter to itself! Hopefully you won't have to wait so long for it as you did this one!**

**Much love to you all, thanks for all your support! xXx **


	20. Reasons To Love The Unlovable

**As I post this I have Elventy-One reviews! Amazing! Thank you all! I'll try and get back to thanking you all properly soon xXx**

This one turned out a lot longer than I was expecting (5,100 words exactly for just the story part!) and it's all Efa POV, but don't worry, well get back to Loki next time!

And a little note to explain the title – I'm completely with Efa on the subject of Loki's loveable-ness, 'Unlovable' refers to how everyone else (including himself) sees him, not how he actually is!

o

**Chapter Twenty:**

**Reasons To Love The Unlovable**

* * *

Efanna walked along the corridors of the S.H.I.E.L.D. base in silence, escorted by Steve Rodgers. It felt strange not to have Loki with her, but when Fury had called her and Steve to the bridge, about an hour after they'd arrived, he'd insisted that she come alone. It felt even stranger not to have Pip at her heels; Efa found herself reaching down instinctively only to remember that she'd left her faithful companion with Loki back in the cell. As anxious as it made her feel however, she knew it was the right thing to do. If she had known Loki well before she'd met him, her knowledge of him now could only be called intimate. It was obvious to her how much he was struggling with her revelations about his heritage, and now, being in the custody of his enemies. He needed the comfort more than her.

She noticed Steve kept giving her sidelong glances, as though making sure she hadn't just disappeared. Although she'd _tried_ to keep her conversation with him normal, she was aware that she'd let slip a few details that, to his mind, she should have no way of knowing. It wasn't really her fault. There were a lot of things going on, and although she knew, _rationally_, that this was the first time she'd met him, the memories of conversations she'd already had, or rather _would_ have with him, crowded her mind. She'd always found it hard to keep timelines straight and remember when talking to people that these things hadn't actually happened yet. It certainly didn't help that the only experience she had talking to people other than Loki was in her memories of Visions, so she felt she had to draw on those a lot just to know what to do. All in all, it was hardly surprising that she couldn't keep her whens in the right order. And what with her obvious closeness to Loki thrown into the mix, Steve now seemed to view her as some sort of unknown variable, capable of anything.

Steve's pace was fast, and Efa almost found herself jogging as they turned corner after corner. Finally she saw that the corridor they were following ended ahead of them. As the automatic doors to the bridge opened, Thor's voice echoed up to them, as regal, assured and frankly loud as she was expecting.

"I assure you, Loki is harmless! The All-Father removed from him his magic, his power, his strength. He has no way of causing you harm! He would not have been sent to this realm if by doing so it would have been put in danger!"

Efa and Steve had were now hovering to the side of the big table at the head of the room, so far unnoticed, and watching as the obvious argument played out below them. Thor stood by Fury, Agent Hill and Tony (who was now dressed normally) by the navigational screens, with Clint and Bruce looking on from the bottom of the table.

"I'm gonna have to disagree with you there," Tony argued, his voice arrogant and rather irritated, "Last time this guy played us all like his own personal orchestra. As deranged as he is, that takes brains. Even if he doesn't have magic or mind control, he's still clever. And if you let an intelligent psycho like that loose in the streets? Yeah, that's going to cause a problem. A problem _we're_ going to end up having to resolve."

"You're both right you know."

Everyone span around at the sound of Efanna's voice, looking somewhat surprised. Whether this was at the fact that she'd dared speak up, or just that they hadn't noticed she was there in the first place, she didn't know. Neither did she particularly care.

"Of course that also means you're both wrong too," she continued, walking forwards, "But let's focus on the positives shall we?"

She paused, smiling, and watched their reactions. More sceptical gazes and raised eyebrows. Maybe it wasn't just Loki who had a thing for that, then, maybe it was just a reaction that she generally provoked. Seeing as no one told her to shut up, she ploughed on. Not that being told to shut up would've made any difference to her anyway.

"Like Thor said, without his magic, Loki poses a significantly reduced threat. But, like Tony said, he's still got that devious and distinctly messed up mind of his. If he'd been left alone when he landed he probably _would_ be slowly but surely causing trouble. The point is, however, that he _wasn't_. He met me instead, and I'm pretty sure Odin knew he would. Thus, any danger he might cause is being contained, so you really don't need to worry about him. Especially as there are far more dangerous things that you _should_ be worrying about."

"And how exactly does him having met you make any difference whatsoever, sweetheart?" Tony asked, "What the hell are you going to do to stop him, huh? 'Cover him with paint'?"

Efa shrugged.

"That worked pretty well last time. But the point is that I have now lived with Loki for over a month with no serious incidents. And as long as you don't try and separate us and take my advice when it comes to dealing with him, that will continue."

Her words were met with silence, and some _very_ intimidating glares. They made her a little uncomfortable, but Efa held her ground. She was _not_ going to let them do anything to Loki. Luckily she didn't have to endure them for long, as Thor stepped towards her, letting her turn her gaze to him instead. Somehow he was even taller than Loki.

"I take it you are the fire-haired maiden Heimdall spoke of?"

Efanna's mouth curled up. She liked the way Asgardians spoke, and often Loki was too moody to phrase things so prettily.

" '_Fire-haired maiden'_, huh? Indeed, I am she," Efa answered, "How eloquently, and, well, flatteringly, put. Pray tell, are these your words, or Heimdall's? I must know to whom I should give my thanks."

Thor looked a little surprised, but chuckled at her words.

"Heimdall did describe your hair to me, but on seeing it, I was the one who was reminded of fire," he confessed with a grin, "I did not think there were those who still spoke in such a manner in this realm."

"Well I've had a varied education," Efanna replied, matching his grin and lapsing back into less formal speech, "Thank you for coming, and please thank Heimdall for relaying the message. Somehow I doubt Loki will share my thanks however."

"I think it is you who deserve _my_ thanks," Thor replied, "I am told you have looked after my brother since his arrival here."

Efanna shrugged.

"I was always going to," she said, "You don't need to thank me for it. Our meeting was Fated, I believe, and after that, well, how could I not?"

"I can think of a few reasons," Tony interjected.

"I'm sure you can," Efa admitted, somewhat sadly, "But luckily, you're not me."

"Lucky for us, or for Loki?"

"Lucky for everyone."

There was a pause in the conversation as everyone considered her words. Efanna used this chance to look around the room. It was far more impressive seen in real life than in any of her Visions. She had to strongly resist the urge to run over to the great sheets of glass and simply stare in wonder as the world passed by below them. She'd always loved being up high, and you couldn't really get much higher than they were now.

"He still deserves to be punished," Barton insisted, dragging Efa's attention back to their discussion.

"You think he is not?" she asked coolly.

"Banishment in mortal form is one of the most severe punishments the All-Father could have given," Thor assured them.

"He's still walking free though, isn't he?"

"That depends entirely on how you define freedom," Efanna pointed out, her voice firm now, "True, he is not in a cage, or at least he wasn't until you put him in one, but that does not mean he is free. That does not mean he goes without punishment. It may not seem so great a thing to _you_, but you forget that one person's pleasure is punishment to another. _You_ see being able to wander the whole of this world as freedom, but I assure you, Loki does not, and he is the one whose opinion really matters in this instance. After all, it is _he_ who is being punished, not you."

She carefully watched their reactions as she spoke, assessing the impact of her words, how close she was to convincing them, and how much more she would need to say. The majority of the people before her still looked profoundly sceptical, but she thought she saw the beginnings of understanding in the eyes of Bruce. She gave him a small smile, partly as thanks, or perhaps encouragement; partly because she hadn't had the chance to say hello yet.

"You also fail to take into consideration the effect being constrained in human form has on him," she continued, "Banishment is the least part of Loki's punishment. Try to imagine the frustration, even the pain, of being in a form that is so much weaker than that you are used to. Imagine knowing you are capable of so much, but being unable to reach it. It's … it's like …"

She paused, trying to find the right words.

"Tony – it's like you having all that genius, all that intelligence, but no way to _use_ it; or, Steve – like if you were forced back into the body you had before the serum, but with the knowledge that you were once able to do so much! Loki is used to his strength and his magic, things which are an integral part of him; and now they are locked away, out of his reach. Surely you must have some idea of how hard that must be? That, for Loki, it is far greater punishment than simply being locked in a cell – to be reduced to the level of those he sees as pathetic and worthless, all the while knowing he was once so much more."

Efanna paused again. The intensity of the stares she was receiving was almost enough to make her shrivel and cower, but the images she had Seen of Loki at S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hands filled her mind; of him beaten, screaming, tortured. She would not let that happen. But she realised she had still not said enough to change their minds. Sighing, she moved over to the table and leant against it, staring into the distance.

"Of course, his real punishment lies in what is still to come," she told them quietly, "In the choice he must make."

The silence became, if possible, heavier as those before her demanded an explanation. They didn't bother using words. They weren't needed.

"There are two routes that Loki now faces. Both will punish him in far greater ways than you could ever hope to."

Efanna knew this was inevitable, that it was always going to be this way. Loki had been set on a certain path, one that would always come to this crossroads. She just didn't like to think of the pain it was going to cause him.

"The first," she explained, "The one I hope he will take, is redemption. He will come to realise the full extent of his crimes and he will regret them. And therein is his punishment. He shall seek to atone for his actions and, if he can survive the pain it will cause him, he will learn to forgive himself. Then you will have one of the greatest allies you could ever hope to have.

"If this does not happen, if he cannot heal the pain that scars his heart then darkness will overcome him, the pain will consume him and all that is truly Loki will be lost. There are no tortures in this world or any other that could ever be greater than this. If he chooses this path he will suffer more than you could ever imagine.

"That is why I am helping him. If he chooses that second path, not only will all of humanity suffer, and quite possibly all the universe as well; but _he_ will too, and I cannot bear to see him cause and suffer such pain. I love him too much for that."

She focussed her eyes back on the people before her. Some looked thoughtful, others just angry. Thor, perhaps, was the only one who seemed to understand her sadness.

"If you are in love with him then your judgement cannot be trusted," Fury announced slowly, breaking the silence that seemed to smother them.

"I am not _in_ love with him!" Efanna cried in exasperation, "Does all the world have so tiny a view of love?"

"How could you love him after all that he's done?" Clint asked coldly, his fingers once again curling around the handle of his gun.

"How could I not?" she said expressively, "I know him better than any of you could possibly imagine, I know what drove him to this path; but even if I didn't I would still love him. There is not a single creature in all the universe that does not have _some_ aspect worth loving. And if that aspect can be nurtured, if that aspect can have the love it deserves then it will grow until the whole creature can be worth loving. That is the true nature, the true beauty of love – it creates itself. You don't have to be good to be loved, but you will never be good if you are not, at least the tiniest bit, at least by _someone_. Can you really deny Loki that right? If you do then you cannot blame him alone for his actions."

As her words sunk in, the faces around her began to look slightly less assured. Bruce looked thoughtful, and Steve in particular was beginning to look uncomfortable.

"So what do you see in him worth loving?" Clint asked, his eyes still hard. Efanna knew he would be the hardest to win over. Whit what Loki had done, it wasn't surprising.

"There is so much! You would not believe it but you do not know him as I do. Everything Loki has done, he has done because he is in pain. True it's deep and obscure and at times based on bizarrely twisted logic that only Loki's strange mind could possibly hope to understand; but it's pain all the same. If you try and cause him more pain you will only ever make him worse. If no one ever tries to heal him, what reason does he have in that messed up mind of his to help anyone else?"

She looked around the room, locking her eyes onto each of theirs and staring them down, readying herself to make her next blow. It was harsh perhaps, but necessary.

"None of _you_ are innocent," she reminded them firmly, "Each one of you has blood on your hands. Every one of you have done things that some would never forgive. And yet you have had the chance to prove yourself worth forgiveness. Why shouldn't Loki be given that chance too? What right have you to be forgiven if you will not offer that same chance to another?"

The discomfort on Steve's face had spread. Efanna knew these men, and she knew the weight their conscience weighed on them. She knew that, somewhere deep inside them, they all sought forgiveness too.

"You believe Loki capable of redeeming himself?" Fury asked finally.

"If he is given the chance to, yes," Efanna replied with assurance, "I'm not saying it will be easy. I'm not saying that he won't make mistakes on the way. But if you give him this chance then I believe you will end up with a reformed man who will be a great ally in the battles to come. And I _know_ that if you do _not_ you can be certain that all he will ever be is an enemy, and that there will be no way of containing him from which he will not break free and seek revenge – which will be all the worse for your judgement."

"We could always just kill him," Clint suggested coldly.

"If so then the world is at just as much danger from you as it is from him," she countered implacably, turning her eyes to him and challenging him to uphold his statement.

"How do we even know we can trust you?" he asked, "How do we know you're not under his control."

"Because you know, regardless of whether that is the case or not, that my words are true. Because I talk not of individuals, but of the morals that guide you, that you feel set you above men who act as Loki has. Because if you disregard my words now, you know that it shall forever haunt you, and that you will never again be able to answer when your conscience reminds you of the wrongs _you_ have done."

Efanna felt cruel saying such things, but she had to make them understand.

"Okay, I think you've made your point," Fury told her, staring at her firmly with his single eye, "You assure me that Loki will behave? That he shall pose no threat to any of my agents or our operations?"

"As long as you're sensible, and I stay with him whenever he is required to interact with others, at least at first; then yes."

"Then we have an agreement. We shall not harm him – but mark my word, if he puts one toe out of line, I will make sure he sorely regrets it."

Efanna's face lit up and inwardly she breathed a sigh of relief. They were still a long way from trusting either of them, but this was a start. They had promised not to hurt Loki, and she was sure she could get him to agree to her terms.

"Thank you, Director Fury," Thor said solemnly, "I too, shall add my assurance that Loki will not be of any danger to you."

Fury nodded his acknowledgement, but his eye was fixed firmly on Efa.

"I am very interested to know just _how_ you know so much about Loki," he said firmly, "Somehow I don't think he's the type to share his soul with some girl he's only just met. You owe us a _lot_ of answers."

Efanna sighed as everyone, even Thor, looked at her expectantly.

"I can't tell you that without telling you everything else, and I've already made it quite clear that I'm not doing that until Natasha's here to hear it too," she explained wearily, "Believe me, when I _do_ tell you, you'll understand why."

"You're asking us to put a lot of trust in you, all the while telling us we face some great danger that you refuse to tell us anything about," Agent Hill pointed out.

"I know. And I am truly grateful that you have thus far taken me for my word."

She cast her eyes about the room, wondering how much she could tell them as an act of goodwill, without them getting too suspicious.

"I can give you some information on the danger that we currently face," she said eventually, "As long as you agree not to question how I got it until Natasha's here."

Fury considered this for a moment, then nodded his agreement. The others shifted forward, and, judging by the look on Bruce's face, he would have agreed to her terms regardless of whether Fury had.

"Okay," Efanna started, trying to compile all she knew and sort out what she could safely say.

"The current weather – the cold, the storms – it's being caused by some sort of creatures – creatures which are not from this world. I don't know what they are, and neither does Loki – they're evidently not from any of the realms known to Asgard. They are creatures of ice and appear to dislike heat – which is common sense really, but useful to know. That's why – so far – all of their attacks have been very far north. You know of one or two of these, and they are what attacked your Alaskan base, but there have been many more. Mostly just one or two people at a time, but they seem to be getting stronger. They don't seem to be able to move south until their change in the weather has made it cold enough for them – but I'm sure you're aware just how quickly the average temperature of the northern hemisphere is dropping, so I don't think that's going to be much of a problem for them for long. Pip and I seem to be the only ones who are able to see them. There may be others, somewhere, but I wouldn't count on that. They do, however, show up on thermal imaging – as very, very cold.

"That's about all I can say for now," she said after a pause, "You need to get the message out to people who'll understand it, hopefully that could ensure you don't get another incident like Alaska. You should maybe issue a warning to the general population too. Keep dwellings well heated and don't venture outside unless absolutely necessary, that sort of thing – especially in remote northern communities. At the moment they're the ones in greatest danger. They'll have no idea if or when they might be attacked, and no way to defend themselves. If you could get the respective governments to issue an official message, it might save a few lives without alarming people too much. I would also suggest fire as a good method of prevention. It's basic, I know, but it should be effective. If you can get access to thermal cameras across the world, you might be able to set up some sort of monitoring system, but I don't know enough yet to say how effective that might be. I don't know how we can actually fight back. Not yet. I only know that 'The Avengers' are our only hope and only if you guys stick together … and let me and Loki help."

Silence once again reigned as they took her words in.

"This is serious then?" Fury asked.

"About as serious as it gets."

Efanna watched as the team seemed to mentally pull themselves together. It was both daunting and reassuring to see the grim determination enter their eyes.

"We don't have to rely on thermal imaging from the surface," Tony announced, "I can hack into the satellites covering the northern hemisphere with the tech we need and see if we can find any patterns or abnormalities. Could give us an idea on when they move and where."

"If Tony's hacking satellites, why stop at thermal imaging?" Bruce suggested, "If we get all monitoring data sent here then I can check out whether there are any other ways of identifying these … creatures."

"Then get to it," Fury told them, before turning to Agent Hill and issuing various instructions to various individuals.

The bridge was suddenly a flurry of activity. Efanna moved to one of the big chairs that surrounded the table, slumping down and gently spinning it back and forth with one foot. She was exhausted. It had been a _very_ eventful day, and she knew it was far from over. Right now she wanted more than anything for Fury to assign her and Loki rooms so she could sort the day out into drawings and then just curl up with Pip and sleep. Of course she knew that wasn't going to be an option. Idly she wondered what the time was supposed to be now, how many time zones they'd crossed and which one the moving S.H.I.E.L.D. base even ran to.

"I am told your name is Efanna," Thor said, startling Efa out of her daydreams.

She looked up to find him leant against the table just to the side of her chair. Steve had now joined a conversation with Fury, Clint and Hill further down the room, and Tony and Bruce had already disappeared, so they were more or less alone. Feeling slightly awkward she pulled her sleeves over her hands, just to make doubly sure no skin was showing there.

"Yeah, that's me," she said, smiling to hide her nervousness.

"I hoped I might talk with you," he said, in a tone that suggested he was going to anyway.

"I thought you might," Efa replied wryly. Now, it seemed, began the awkwardness of her role as ambassador between brothers.

"I must express my gratitude for your feelings towards my brother," Thor started, his tone sombre, "I have often worried about the fate he would find in his banishment. I must caution you however. You yourself spoke of the dangers involved with consorting with Loki. I know you think of him more graciously than the others, but I do not wish to see you harmed by his scheming. If he does not act as you have promised, _you_ will be the one who bears the full weight of responsibility for him."

"I'm fully aware of that," Efanna assured him, "And I shall make _him_ fully aware of it too. Have faith. Both in me and in your brother."

"I have long wished to be able to," Thor confided, his tone melancholy, "But his mind is lost to me, and has been for so long now that I fear I shall never know him again."

"He's changed," Efa agreed with a sigh, "Your trip to Jötunheim set him on a particular path, a path that had not been easy for him to follow. We have come very close to losing him, many times."

Thor gave her a long look.

"I do not understand how you can speak of Loki so familiarly," he said, "Nor how you know so much about his past and his character. If I know him at all then he would not have shared such things with you."

The smile Efa gave him in answer was weary.

"He didn't need to," she told him, "But please, ask no more of me now. Until Natasha arrives you shall all just have to accept that I know many things I have no cause to."

Thor nodded, slowly. Efa leant her head back again, letting out her breath slightly in relief. She felt like she was stuck on repeat, she had said those words so many times that day. She had expected Thor to take her abnormalities most easily however. The Asgardians were a mystic people after all, and far more used to such things than the inhabitants of Earth.

"How is he?" Thor asked suddenly.

His voice was hesitant, and he looked off to the side rather than straight at her, but Efanna understood his concern. She sighed deeply and Thor looked back to her. She could see the pain deep within his blue eyes, she knew full well how deeply he cared for Loki. The problem is that Loki didn't.

"He is conflicted," she told him, "Unsure of himself, of his situation, of the direction he shall take to move forwards from here. Bringing him here hasn't helped. I wish I didn't have to so soon, but it was painfully clear there was no choice in the matter. That decision shall shape his fate, and I only hope it is for the better."

She locked her eyes onto Thor's, to ensure he knew the full importance of her next words. It was high time someone in Loki's family began to understand him, even the slightest bit.

"He is in pain. Not physically, but in his very soul, the very core of his existence. He has suffered since that fateful trip to Jötunheim more than you could possibly imagine, and more than he shall ever tell. He is not the man he once was. Pain has twisted him and corrupted him, and he was very almost lost in the process. I am trying to heal him as best I can, but his recovery is slow, and will always be. His scars will never truly fade and I do not know if he will ever be able to look past them. But I have hope for him. He has already changed since I have known him, and I hope that this progress will not be lost by bringing him here."

As she spoke, Efa watched the pain in Thor's eyes grow, mixed with a firm determination.

"I must see him," he said, after a moment of silence.

"I know, but you must be aware that _he_ will not wish to see _you_," she told him carefully, "It was not Loki that called you here, but I. He only relayed the message because I managed to persuade him. To him you are no longer his kin, regardless of what you, nor I, nor anyone else may think on the matter. Your relationship is not the same as you remember it and it never will be. You must remember this, and not expect of him anything he is unable to give."

"I understand," Thor agreed slowly, "Though it pains me greatly."

Efanna gave him a gentle smile, knowing as she did the pain of _both_ brothers in this matter.

"There is still hope," she assured him, "Though what you once had is lost, something new can be gained. There is still a chance that Loki might one day call you brother again. But it is only a chance. I know it is his forté, and not yours, but you must be patient in this matter. If you could wait, let me explain to him what has gone on here, and let him settle somewhat once we have been allocated our rooms. Then hopefully your meeting might be a little more … cordial. Although I give no promises on that account. You must expect a certain amount of hostility on his behalf. And I beg of you, please try not to do anything that might aggravate it!"

Thor gave her a wry smile.

"You words are wise. I shall be patient, as you suggest, and attempt to control my temper. However, _I_ can make no promises on that account. Loki has always brought out both the best and the worst in me."

Efa let out a dry chuckle. She knew that only too well.

* * *

**So in the end I didn't get around to the Loki/Thor meeting – sorry! That is coming up in the next one though, or at least I think it is, depending on how much Efa and Loki have to say to each other about all this! But it will be soon, I promise!**

**I hope you liked this offering, and that it wasn't too long! Let me know!**

**Huge amounts of love to you all xXx **


	21. Not Giving Up

**Once again it has been horribly long since I last updated – I'm so sorry, and am so grateful for your patience and continuing support!**

So yeah, sorry it took so long! I feel rather like I'm falling apart at the seams at the moment… But I got there! So here you go, hope you enjoy it!

o

Notes for this chapter:

Bildschneip – the creatures Thor mentions to Coulson in the movie, _'huge, scaly, big antlers'_. I couldn't remember what they were called, so until I get the film and can look it up with subtitles I shall rely on _SiOmniaFicta_'s excellent transcript of the script for the name.

'_I don't think anyone, until their soul leaves their body, is past the point of no return'_ This must be accredited to the lovely Tom Hiddleston, it came from his mind, not mine. I just thought it worked so perfectly to describe Efa's way of seeing the world and I don't think I could put it better myself.

o

**Chapter Twenty One:**

**Not Giving Up**

* * *

Loki watched as Efa gave him one last look before the doors closed on her and he was left alone, excepting only a couple of guards and her dog. She'd looked as calm and unruffled as ever, giving him a smile and a small wave as Rodgers led her off, but there had been the slightest of tightening about her eyes that had betrayed her nervousness to Loki. He doubted it was enough for anyone else to notice, but he had spend the last few weeks studying this girl in minute detail and he could read her like an open book.

He sighed heavily, resisting the urge to pound his fist against the glass. He was sure that his every move was being scrutinised, and he didn't want to damage whatever slim chance Efa might have of gaining some sort of acceptance. Instead he paced, his restless energy driving him into traversing the small cell in a pattern of criss-crosses. He felt small, vulnerable, trapped, and knew that Efa was his only chance of getting out of this damned cage.

He hated it.

He hated not being in control, not having a plan, being dependant on another. This was the situation he had sworn he would never again allow himself to be in. Memories rose in him, unbidden, of that fateful hunting trip when he and Thor had been mere boys, only centuries old, where he had almost been trampled by an errant Bildschneip. He had not had the strength to fight it, and none could outrun the vile creatures. He would likely have met his end that day, had it not been for Thor's quick actions with a spear. It was this encounter that led to his obsessive pursuit of magical knowledge. It had already become painfully clear to him that he would never equal his brother in terms of physical prowess, but he vowed he would never again suffer the degradation of Thor having to _save_ him, to then be laughed at for his own ineptitude. Magic had never earned him the same respect, even when paired with his own considerable skill as a warrior, however he gained satisfaction in the knowledge that he would never be forced into such a situation again. Until now, when the _All-Father_ had stripped him of his greatest strength. So now he was stuck, helpless, totally reliant of the words and actions of a _mortal_.

He forced himself to be still, closing his eyes and calming his mind and his body. Pacing was doing him no good, and could be seen as a sign of weakness. No matter what situation Odin had forced him into he still had his pride. He would not be reduced to a cowering wreck. He was Loki of Asgard and these pathetic mortals would treat him with the respect that he rightfully deserved. He opened his eyes once more and levelled a threatening glare at one of his guards. The corner of his mouth twitched into a smirk as the mortal glanced timidly at his peer and tightened his grip on his gun. Somewhat mollified, Loki turned and resumed his position on the narrow cot, sat with his legs spread in a show of confidence and dominance, leant back against the glass, with his arms crossed as though surveying his own personal kingdom. He would make it clear whom was superior here, even if he _was_ the prisoner and they his guards.

The effect was somewhat ruined when Efanna's dog came up to him as rested his chin on his leg. Loki glowered at the animal, irritated, but he only stared back at him with white eyes that so matched his mistress'. Somehow they even seemed to convey the same compassion and gentle understanding that Efanna's always did. The beast whined slightly, twitching his ears and looking up imploringly. He shifted closer, reaching his muzzle up to Loki's hands and giving them a brief lick. Loki recoiled slightly, but the creature looked so earnest, so very much like his owner that, against his better judgement, he let the beast be, which seemed to satisfy him enormously. He jumped up onto the cot next to Loki and lay down, pushing himself against the leather of Loki's coat and resting his head firmly in Loki's lap. All the while his white eyes remained fixed on Loki's, almost as though he were assessing him.

Loki leant his head back against the glass and closed his eyes, trying to ignore the warm weight of the animal's head on his leg. His thoughts drifted to Efanna and everything she entailed. It seemed every day he spent with the strange mortal raised more questions about her than it answered. He could read her now, notice the small shifts in her expression or movements that indicated her rapidly changing moods. He could tell if she was sad, angry or confused; excited, contented or cheerful. And yet he could not _understand_ her. The reasons for her emotions eluded him, the workings of her mind remained unknown. She continued, at every opportunity, to surprise him. Perhaps that was why he felt so drawn to her. Because she was a riddle he had not yet been able to answer.

Invariably, his thoughts on Efanna drew him to wonder what currently transpired in her meeting with Fury. The Director had been obviously vague on the details in his summoning, but his tone had been decisive, firm, not quite angry but implacable. It was obvious that the reason for this meeting was to discuss _him_, and for her to have been summoned now meant that something must have changed. Loki suspected the cause of such change must be the arrival of his b-

Angrily, he threw his mind away from the accursed word. Despite even his exile, his torture, the endless hours of agony that had caused Loki to so entirely renounce and disown his former _family_, his mind would still slip occasionally, dredging up the term he had sworn to abolish. Thor was not his brother and never had been; he knew this, so why did this small part of his mind seem so incapable of accepting it? At this thought however, Efanna's face once again wove through his mind, the honesty and simple truth in her eyes as she told him what Odin never had. If what she had said was indeed correct, and he could not justifiably doubt that it was so, then Thor _was_, to some extent at least, his brother.

This notion echoed though his mind disrupting everything it touched, leaving in its wake such chaos that Loki could not begin to make head nor tail of. He had already been forced to rearrange his entire identity to erase such ideas from his mind. To face the prospect of having to do so again, to have to reverse the process, seemed at present to daunting to comprehend. He would admit it to no one, although he suspected Efanna already knew, but the pain he had endured as he had done so had been almost more than he could bear, and he could not face subjecting himself to that again. He had made his decision, severed his ties to the family of Odin.

Thor was not his brother.

o

"What you said," Steve started suddenly when they were about halfway back to Loki's cell. His voice was intense, yet hesitant, and he was staring at her intently as they walked along, barely looking where he was going.

"I said quite a few things," Efa prompted him when the rest of his sentence failed to appear.

"About love," he clarified, "About how there's something worth loving in everyone. Do you really believe that?"

"I wouldn't've said it if I didn't believe it," she told him, "I don't ever lie you know."

"I didn't say you were," he assured her hurriedly, "It's just … everyone? There are some … people … I'd have a hard time finding something to love about."

Efanna sighed, knowing full well the conflict in the soldier's mind.

"I'm guessing you're thinking about Schmidt?" she asked, earning herself a sharp glare, "Don't bother asking how I know. You'll find out soon enough. But in answer to the question you never quite asked… Yes, there are those who are beyond love as they are, but even they, I believe, have the possibility of having something worth loving. I don't think anyone, until their soul leaves their body, is past the point of no return. And I believe that everyone should have the chance to become a better person."

They walked in silence for a while as Steve considered this.

"I only wish I could have your faith," he replied after a while, somewhat wistfully.

"So you don't believe in Loki either?" Efa asked, looking up at him sadly.

"I admire your trust in him, in your belief that he can change, I just… I'm not sure he deserves it. I understand what you said, about love and all that, but you don't know what he did. You weren't there. I'd love to believe someone like him could change, I really would. I just don't think it's gonna happen."

They'd arrived at the doors to the room in which Loki's cell resided. Steve turned to her, his expression serious and determined.

"You need to be careful," he warned, "Loki's clever, he's devious; he could be tricking you and you wouldn't even know. I don't want to see you getting hurt."

Efanna sighed, her heart heavy at the irony of Steve's words.

"I understand far more than you could ever imagine," she told him, her voice weighed down by the weight of the memories behind her words, "I know what he did. Far better than any of you do. It's too late for me not to get hurt."

"What's he done to you?" Steve asked fervently, concern and anger at the mistreatment he believed she'd suffered clear in his voice.

"He hasn't done anything," Efa assured him, "Well he's been a mardy prick and he's tried to strangle me a couple of times, oh, and we got into a fight once where I hit my head on the coffee table; but really, considering who he is and everything that he's just been through, that's nothing. And he came out of that fight worse off anyway…"

She caught the look on Steve's face and realised that she was maybe being a little _too_ honest for the current situation.

"He poses no danger to me," she reiterated firmly, "I know Loki far better than anyone else will ever do. He is incapable of tricking me. I'm fairly sure I'm the only person in the universe who can say that. I also know that I'm the only person who'll give him a chance. Which is why it's so important for me to do so."

Steve studied her for a long moment before evidently deciding that she _was_, in fact, in possession of her wits, and not a mindless drone under Loki's mind control, or completely stark raving bonkers. He nodded, and turned to open the door. Efa agreed with him, of course, on the first point, though privately decided to reserve judgement on the second.

"You seem to know what you're talking about," he admitted as the door slid open, "I still don't trust him though. I'm gonna be keeping a close eye on both of you, and that's not just because of orders."

"I understand," Efa agreed, following him into the room, "As long as you don't hurt him, I don't mind."

o

Pip wriggled slightly against Loki's leg, his warm skin and soft fur shifting beneath his hand. The sensation jerked Loki from his thoughts as he suddenly realised that his fingers were gently entangled within the dog's long coat and that he was actually taking _comfort_ from the animal's presence. As if sensing the change in attitude towards him, Pip looked up with what seemed to be a smile on his face and licked Loki's free hand, almost as if in encouragement. Loki surprised himself by not recoiling from the action and the dog seemed almost to beam. Loki shook his head slightly. Both animal and mistress seemed uncannily alike, both seeming to take the most enormous satisfaction from the merest of gestures from him. After centuries of trying to prove himself to others, such simple acceptance was somehow … reassuring. As much as his mind and pride recoiled from the idea, Loki was forced to admit that the strange pair did indeed evoke such emotions from him. The thought worried him. He should not need reassurance, not least from a mortal and her _dog_.

It was the thumping of Pip's tail that alerted Loki to Efanna's arrival. She was escorted back into the room, once again by Steve Rodgers, and smiled widely at him when he caught her eye. Rodgers had words with Loki's guards and the door to his cage was opened. The second it was so, Efanna literally bounded towards them and the reunion between girl and dog was ecstatic and energetic. Loki stood slowly, watching her for any signs of how her meeting had gone, but she seemed wholly focussed on greeting her pet. It struck Loki for the first time just how much it had pained her to be separate from him, and he wondered just why she had left Pip with him in the first place.

Surveying the room, Loki noticed that the door to his cell had not been closed after Efanna's entry. He raised one eyebrow, finding the eyes of the carefully watching Captain with a questioning glance. Rodgers' eyes were guarded, but he made no move to caution Loki, or remedy the obvious breach in security. Loki's brow raised further as he turned his gaze back to the redhead and her dog. Surely she could not have persuaded them to trust him?

"They've arranged rooms for us," she told him, answering his unasked question and wiping a layer of dog-slobber from her face, "They have graciously agreed not to lock us up, although there are certain restrictions on our movement and actions. Our rooms will be guarded, and neither of us are allowed out of them without an escort, in your case you're not allowed out without an escort and myself. And obviously any form of violence or sabotage is strictly prohibited. They don't trust us yet, but it's a start, don't you think?"

Loki glanced about the room, paying particular attention to the expression on the Captain's face. He didn't seem particularly happy about the idea, but appeared to be going along with it.

"Miss Efanna gave us her word that you would agree to these conditions," he said firmly, seemingly waiting for any sign that Loki might turn back on Efa's promise.

"If Efanna has given her word, then, of course, I shall comply," he replied, his tone gracious and cultured.

Rodgers didn't look convinced, but nodded curtly. Loki smirked. He was not an unmannered waif; growing up in court, particularly under Frigga's influence, had given him the skills to appear the very definition of a courteous gentleman. The confusion that would arise in those who thought him a heartless beast by behaving in such a manner now would be most amusing to watch. He was confident that he could even puzzle Thor with such an act. As he was forced to comply to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s commands, he may as well get _some_ enjoyment out of it, teach the mortals that there was far more to him than they understood.

"Shall we get going then?" Efa asked with a grin that made Loki suspect she knew exactly what he was playing at.

"By all means," Loki replied, offering Efanna his arm, "Captain, lead the way."

Loki basked in the stares they received as they were escorted down the corridors, Efanna's hand resting demurely on his arm as though they were attending a ball, a smirk etched firmly on his face at the bafflement and incredulity displayed by any who saw them. Efa seemed happy enough to play along, looking very much like she was trying not to laugh. The rooms they were led to were next-door to one another, and, they were informed, surrounded by those that would be occupied by members of the Avengers and agents who were more than capable of handling any trouble, should they cause it. Efanna assured them, once again, that they would do no such thing, before moving to follow Loki through one of the two doors.

"Uh, you did want two rooms didn't you?" Rodgers asked, looking thoroughly uncomfortable.

"Yes, of course!" Efa replied, unable to keep from laughing any longer and letting out a warm chuckle, "You don't really think we're _together_ do you?"

Rodgers looked even more uncomfortable and Loki's smirk grew more pronounced as he watched from the doorway. Efa went over to him, smiling as benevolently as she always did.

"Steve, I'm _human_," she reminded him, "As if Loki would ever have me! I just need to update him about the current situation, that's all."

Her reassurance didn't seem to comfort him, but he let her calmly follow Loki into his room, Pip at her heels. Once she'd closed the door she turned to look at Loki, and as soon as her eyes met his she burst into fits of giggles.

"Well I can see why you inspired the God of Mischief of all things," she told him with a grin and a roll of her eyes, "That was really quite hilarious, you know. And I'm glad you decided not to make a fuss. They all think I'm insane to trust you, and I'd really rather you didn't give them any reasons to think themselves right."

"You _are_ insane to trust me," Loki reminded her, "But I shall behave, as you wish. I am not so stupid as to think I can go up against them in this form."

Efanna sighed, and looked around the room. It was small, cramped, and uniformly grey. There appeared to be a washroom of sorts attached, which Loki suspected would follow the same formula. The furnishings were sparse: a narrow bed, a desk and a hard plastic chair; but at least the door could be unlocked from the inside, even if there was to be a guard stationed outside at all times.

"See I told promised they wouldn't lock you up. Although I swear there was more room in that cell, and I'm fairly sure they've got us bugged."

She paused at Loki's questioning glance.

"That means they're listening in, so I'm sure you'll want to watch what you say," she explained, before continuing as though that was perfectly natural and not at all an invasion of their privacy.

"They said they'd bring our bags up. I think they've been checking them for bombs or something, then you can actually put a shirt on or something, you must be getting hot in that coat."

Efa plonked herself on the bed rather unceremoniously, fluffing up the single pillow and leaning into the corner of the walls it was pushed up against. Loki realised just how tired she looked and once again wondered what had transpired whilst he had been alone in the cage.

"Thor's here," she said, watching him carefully.

Loki scowled and sighed as he sat himself down on the other end of the bed.

"I suspected as much."

"He wants to see you."

Loki gritted his teeth.

"I'm surprised the great oaf hasn't barged in here already," he hissed bitterly, "Waving that great hammer and trying to make me see _sense_."

"I persuaded him to wait," Efa said.

Loki gave her a profoundly sceptical look, but she seemed perfectly sure of herself, and the fact remained that Thor had _not_ yet paid Loki a visit.

"How on Asgard did you manage that?" he asked, genuinely interested despite his harsh tone.

"I know him, Loki, just as well as I know you," she told him, her voice quiet, "I know the reasons to convince him."

Loki felt his fist curl on the bed beside him and Efanna moved to touch his shoulder.

"He means well, Loki. He still loves you."

"What he loves no longer exists, if he ever loved me at all," he retorted sharply, "He pines after something he has not the sense to know is long lost. The man he wants me to be, deferential, subjugated, exploited; the derisory second son who knows his place – I might once have been forced into that role, but I have never been that man and I never will be."

"I know that Loki," Efa reassured him, "And I have attempted to explain that to him. But he will not give you up. To him you are still his brother and always will be."

"He is an idiot."

"He has a tendency to be ruled by his heart, and only stop to think once the action is over, but he's a good man. You can't expect everyone to have your intelligence."

Loki scowled as a sudden and irrational surge of jealousy rose within him.

"You love him don't you?" he accused angrily.

"Of course I do," Efa replied calmly, "You understand how well I know him, how well I know all of them. How could I not?"

Anger boiled through Loki's gut and he was surprised at the strength of the reaction her words had generated. He shoved her hand away and stood, turning to tower over her. His breath came in heavy bursts and his face was contorted into a scowl. Efanna, however, showing the same seeming lack of regard for her own personal safety as she always did, simply stood up to face him, reaching one hand up to his cheek. He shoved it away contemptuously, but she stubbornly replaced it, bringing her second hand up to his other cheek as well.

"You hold still and listen to me, or so help me, I will jump on you," she warned him ardently, "Just because I love him it does not mean I love you any less, Loki. Love doesn't work like that. It doesn't come in finite amounts. I love you just as much as I always have, Loki, I just love Thor too."

She paused, her white eyes locked on his and removed the thin gloves that covered her hands before reaching back to his face. When her skin touched his her gaze clouded for a moment before returning to its previous, inexorable force.

"Don't you dare go mardy on me again, Loki. I am _not_ going to lose you."

A silent battle of wills raged between them for a moment, but already Loki could feel her pure _emotion_ wearing away at his resistance. As his green eyes slowly softened she let her arms snake about his neck and leant her head against his chest. With a sigh, Loki gave in and let his arms rest against her lower back.

"That's better," he heard her mutter against the leather of his coat, "I am far too tired to argue and I've still got to umpire what could turn out to be the biggest cat-fight of the century. In future please remember that we've already agreed that the best thing for you to do in these situations is just shut up and accept that I love you."

Loki couldn't help but let out a disbelieving chuckle at the sheer tenacity and irrationality of the girl in his arms.

"You are quite simply the most absurd creature I have ever known, Efanna."

"Thank you," she replied, affably, "I seem to remember you telling me that before."

She pulled back from him and took a long look into his eyes before yawning.

"I'm gonna go have a nap before they bring us food," she told him, somewhat sleepily, "I have a feeling I'm going to need my energy for our after dinner entertainment. Will you be okay on your own?"

Loki assured her he would be fine and she left, giving him one last smile before the door closed. He flopped back onto his bed and stared at the ceiling, trying to prepare himself for the forthcoming reunion and ignore the way Efanna simply refused to give up on him.

* * *

**Okay, so I still haven't got to the Thor/Loki meeting – I'm sorry! It will DEFINITELY be next chapter, I promise! Loki's being his changeable, angsty self, and is quite fun to write like that. Bless. It's fun to beat him into submission with pure emotions and love like Efa does :]**

**Let me know what you thought, your reviews really keep me writing when things are as frankly crap as they're being now. I love you all! xXx**


	22. The Meeting of Brothers

**I'm so sorry it's taken so long again v_v Thank you for all your patience and support!**

Another long one! Bit of Tony POV at the end too, I felt like we needed to see some of their reactions to Loki and Efanna whilst they're not there, and it seemed too clumsy doing it through Visions. Hope you enjoy x

o

**Chapter Twenty Two:**

**The Meeting of Brothers**

* * *

Loki and Efanna walked along the long, blank corridors in silence, Pip trotting along between them. Loki was brooding, that much was obvious. Efa hadn't wanted to eat alone, so when the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent came to deposit her dinner she'd taken it straight next-door to Loki's room. He'd been lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling, his own tray sat on his desk. He barely moved as she worked her way through the rather unsatisfying meal, leaving his own food untouched, and had only spoke when she'd threatened to poke him if he didn't answer her. She'd decided it would be best to just leave him to it for the moment, after all, he did have reason enough, but resolved to take steps if he kept it up for too long.

The agents who were escorting them stopped next to one of the many plain doors and Efanna supposed they had reached their destination. It had been decided that the reunion between brothers would be best held in one of the common room-like facilities provided for agents to use during their breaks. Efa didn't think it particularly sensible for two such large and volatile men to meet in either so tiny a space as their bedrooms, or a place currently occupied by (relatively) innocent bystanders. They paused outside the door, Loki taking a deep breath as he prepared to enter.

"You ready?" Efa asked him as the agent held his hand out to the door controls.

Loki gave her a scathing glance in response, but she could see the reluctance behind his eyes. She was tempted to reach out and take his hand, but she knew he would most likely not appreciate the action, so instead she pulled the long sleeves of her hoodie over her gloved hands and fiddled with the hem. To say that this was going to be awkward would have been a major understatement.

The door slid open to reveal Thor sitting on one of the firm, grey sofas in the room, leant forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He stood swiftly as they entered, his eyes fixed firmly on his estranged brother, who glowered back at him contemptuously. For a moment neither spoke, instead silently assessing the other. Efa backed against the wall by the door, feeling it might be sensible to get out of the way in case either one of them suddenly exploded. Tension almost crackled in the air, and were it not for the fact that she could quite clearly see that Mjölnir was sat on the small coffee table rather than in Thor's hand, Efanna might have sworn he was building up a miniature electrical storm in the room. She suddenly felt extremely small. Not only was she standing in a room with two figures from myth and legend, but it was only when stood between the two of them that one fully appreciated just how _tall_ they both were.

"Brother-" Thor started, breaking the silence, only to be quickly and harshly cut off.

"I'm not your brother."

The words seemed ritual, an automatic rebuttal that formed on Loki's lips without him even thinking. Efanna sighed quietly. She had hoped he might have reconciled himself somewhat to the idea of his family, but perhaps she had been hoping for too much too soon.

"I care not of your parentage, Loki," Thor said with a deep sigh, "You have always been my brother and you always will be."

Loki held Thor's gaze and for the briefest of moments a flicker of hope and dreadful longing passed through his green eyes before he once again rammed up his defences, pushing away any such emotions with a scowl. His hands curled into fists at his sides and his jaw clenched. It was clear to Efanna that without some form of intervention, this reunion would quickly lose any semblance of civility and descend head first into a fight.

Apparently Pip, who had been watching the exchange intently with his head cocked to one side, agreed with her, as he chose this moment to bound across the room and leap up to greet Thor, tail wagging furiously as he tried to lick the Asgardian's hands. Efa used the distraction to subtly place herself between brothers, resting one hand placatingly on Loki's arm as she passed him. Thor looked a little baffled by the sudden, energetic and very furry interruption, but quickly realised that Pip was largely harmless and was soon won over by his effortless, doggy charm.

"This is Pip, my dog," Efa introduced, grinning as he rolled onto his back, tail thumping out a frantic rhythm on the floor and demanded a belly-rub. She could see Loki rolling his eyes in the corner of her vision.

"He is most affectionate," Thor replied, giving in and kneeling to give Pip the fuss he was demanding.

"He's a good boy," she agreed, "Hello again by the way."

"Hello. I should apologise for not greeting you when you first entered."

Thor rose again and held his hand out, but Efanna ignored it, instead moving straight in for a hug. Just like when she'd first hugged Loki, there was little risk of her touching his skin, what with her head only coming up to his shoulder. Thor seemed somewhat surprised by her action, but after a moment returned her embrace, although gently, as though wary that he might either hurt her or unintentionally break some Midgardian protocol that he was not fully aware of.

"Must you insist on hugging everyone?" Loki asked irritably.

"Yes," she replied impishly, smiling as she returned to Loki's side, "Hugs are a good way of saying hello."

"You didn't hug _me_ when first we met," he pointed out, and Efanna was sure she could sense the slightest bit of jealousy creeping into his voice.

"That's because you were too busy strangling me," she reminded him, "I hugged you as soon as I thought it wouldn't result in you attempting to kill me. Which for the record, he didn't," she added, looking up to the corners of the room, "Hello Fury, Tony and whomever else might be watching."

Thor looked surprised at her words. Loki merely scowled.

"You know this meeting was to be observed?" Thor asked.

Loki gave him a derisive look, but Efanna thought she should probably explain more thoroughly.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. are pretty much the biggest intelligence organisation on the planet. They even spy on their spies, so of course they're going to watch every move Loki or I make. After all, they don't trust me, and they actively _distrust_ Loki. And as for Tony? Well, if there's one thing both he and Fury have in common it's that they both love keeping secrets, but hate having secrets kept from them; and I doubt he's yet met a communications system he couldn't hack. There's no way he could resist eavesdropping."

Thor chuckled.

"You have a fair point," he conceded, "And are very observant. I think it would be wise not to underestimate you."

"Probably," Efa agreed with a grin, "Now shall we sit down or are you two going to insist on making me feel short?"

"You _are_ short," Loki shot at her.

"No I'm not, you're just obscenely tall," Efa bantered airily, curling up against the arm of one sofa.

Thor followed her example, taking a seat on the sofa nearest him, but Loki remained standing. Efa was sure she could see the slightest of smirks curling his lips however. She patted the seat next to her and locked her gaze to his in a silent challenge. After a moment he rolled his eyes and imperiously took the seat she offered. Satisfied, Efa turned back to Thor to find him watching the two of them curiously.

"How are you faring, b- Loki?" he asked after a moment in the awkward manner of one making small talk, even though Efanna knew the strength of his concern.

Loki's gaze turned to a glare again and his mouth hardened into a thin line.

"As well as can be expected whilst trapped in this loathsome form," he replied curtly, "I marvel how the Midgardians have ever accomplished anything, their bodies are so limited."

"They're not _that_ bad," Efa muttered.

"Indeed," Thor agreed peaceably, "Whilst there is certainly a noticeable difference, I found Midgardian forms are not so very dissimilar to our own. You should perhaps not be so harsh in your judgement."

"You would not have noticed such difference as you have always failed to perceive the intricacies of form that so define its nature," Loki retorted harshly, "Your laxity in study means there are so many aspects even to your own form of which you remain pitifully unaware and have not the sense to miss should they be taken away. I, however, feel keenly the loss of that which you have not yet bothered to discover."

"Your knowledge has always exceeded mine," Thor conceded, "Perhaps you do feel the loss of your natural form more keenly than I did."

His words did nothing to soften Loki's manner and the room quickly fell into uncomfortable silence. Efanna found herself fiddling with the hem of her sleeve again as she watched closely for danger signs in either brother. Thor cast his eyes about the room, obviously struggling in this unfamiliar of situations. Efa doubted that the two of them had ever sat together and had a truly serious conversation even when at their closest and Thor was definitely the sort to act rather than talk.

"Mother told me to remind you of her love," he said eventually.

Loki scoffed derisively.

"She misses you Loki," Thor insisted, "We all do. It saddens her greatly to have to lose you like this."

Efanna watched Loki's reaction carefully. His face remained impassive, but one again she caught the tiniest flicker of emotion in the green depths of his eyes which made her want to reach out for him.

"Does Odin send any message?" he asked scathingly.

Thor sighed and hesitated for a moment before answering.

"Father instructed me to remind you that Heimdall is watching you closely, and to warn you that he can administer a harsher judgement should you abuse this chance he has given you," Thor recounted slowly, "He also asks that you remember the conditions of your exile."

"To what purpose?" Loki retorted angrily, "The All-Father has never deemed me worthy. There is nothing I can do to change that now – he has made that abundantly clear. The conditions of my punishment mean nothing."

Silence once again fell thickly on the room and Efanna could see Thor restraining himself from admonishing Loki for his words. She bit her lip heavily, feeling the pain of both brothers and wishing she could do something about it. There was a large part of her that wanted to simply bash the two idiot's heads together until they finally saw sense, but she was well aware that wouldn't achieve anything. Sensing her discomfort, Pip came and pushed his head onto her lap and she gently ruffled the fur behind his ears, wishing it could be safe for her to take her gloves off. Loki had now turned away from all of them and was glowering at the wall with such intensity he was almost burning a hole in it. _At least it's not turned into a brawl_, Efa reminded herself, _yet_.

"I ought to thank you again, Efanna, for looking after my brother in this … difficult … time," Thor said when the silence became unbearable, evidently deciding she was the safer choice for an attempt at civil conversation.

"I do not need _looking after_," Loki spat before she could reply.

"Yes you do," she retorted, nudging him playfully.

Loki turned the full force of his glare on her, but she merely stuck her tongue out at him.

"Insolent mortal," he muttered darkly.

"Loki," Thor warned, but Efanna flapped her hand at him placatingly.

"Are we really going to stoop to name calling again, Loki?" she asked him archly, one eyebrow raised, "You really don't want to give Stark any ammunition you know, you got angry enough last time _I_ called you-"

Her rambling threat was cut off as Loki sighed and placed a hand over her mouth, his fingers wrapping about her jaw to keep it closed. Efa tried to wriggle out of his hold but he was too strong and she was backed up in the corner of the sofa so had nowhere to go. She knew from his earlier attempts at strangling her that there wasn't much point trying to prise his fingers away so she simply sighed exaggeratedly.

"_Really, Loki?"_ she tried to say, but her words were incomprehensibly muffled by his hand, _"This is just childish you know."_

He just smirked at her efforts so she crossed her arms and refused to look at him, although she couldn't really turn her head so the effect was somewhat ruined.

"Loki!" Thor reprimanded, "Unhand Efanna this instant."

Loki chuckled and raised one eyebrow at Thor's outraged expression. Efanna rolled her eyes, flapped her hand again and shrugged her shoulders in an attempt to reassure him that she was fine. The last thing they needed was Mjölnir being brought into the situation.

"You see?" Loki smirked, "She bears no mind to my actions. If only every mortal would accept their rightful place so easily."

At this Efanna poked her tongue between her lips indignantly. He turned back to her, looking rather surprised, but annoyingly didn't let go.

"Did you just _lick_ me?" he asked incredulously.

Efanna shrugged.

"_It's supposed to make people let go,"_ she mumbled into his palm, _"At least it does on TV. I thought it was worth a try."_

His eyebrow raised again.

"Will nothing keep you from talking?" he asked irately, but Efa was aware that his words lacked their usual venom.

"_Nope,"_ she mumbled with aplomb, her grin evident from her eyes. She licked him again for good measure.

Loki sighed and let go, wiping his hand on his trousers. Efanna gave him an infuriatingly sweet smile before turning back to Thor, who was watching them with a curious gaze.

"Don't worry, it's fun winding Loki up," she reassured him, "And we've already had the major fights, so it's just banter now really."

Loki muttered something else under his breath but Efa decided to ignore him.

"You are a most unusual woman, Efanna," Thor told her, looking as though he didn't quite know what to make of her.

"People keep telling me that," she agreed.

"I have certainly never met anyone who treats my brother the way you do."

"You've probably not met anyone mad enough."

A dry chuckle came from Loki at that comment and he shook his head slightly.

"I can attest that you most definitely have not," he commented wryly.

"Why tha-" Efa began with a smirk before the room faded before her eyes.

o

Efanna's words died on her lips as her body crumpled and she toppled slowly forwards. Loki quickly reached out to catch her before she once again cracked her skull on a coffee table, almost tripping over her dog in the process.

"Loki, what have you done to her?" Thor cried as Loki's arms wrapped firmly around the redhead and lowered her limp form to the floor.

"I have done nothing! How could I have with my magic bound?" he snapped angrily. Why was _he_ always the one who got the blame?

"Then what is wrong?" Thor asked worriedly.

For an instant, Loki considered weaving a lie to explain Efanna's collapse; it would be easy to do, he could simply suggest that she was exhausted from her ordeals; but he quickly decided against the idea. Such words would inevitably bring others rushing to her side which would only make things more difficult.

"Should I send for a healer?"

"There is no need," Loki commanded abruptly, "Such a person would only interfere. She is perfectly alright, for her this is a regular occurrence."

"What do you mean? What has happened to her?"

Thor pushed the low table out of the way and knelt next to Loki, who was still holding Efanna's unconscious form slumped against his chest. He reached out one hand as though to check the redhead's pulse.

"Don't touch her," Loki growled, pulling her out of Thor's reach.

His '_brother_' looked confused, but slowly withdrew his outstretched hand, his eyes silently questioning Loki's actions. Loki realised the way he was still clutching Efanna and scowled, shifting so that he could lay her out on the floor. He looked down at her pale face, framed by the fiery hair fanned out against the hard floor and sighed, pressing a hand over his eyes.

"I cannot give you the explanations you seek," he said, "She has made it clear that she does not yet wish you to know. Until she enlightens you however, she would prefer it if you refrained from touching her. You will understand why when she sees fit for you to do so."

"_You_ touch her," Thor argued.

"I know her better than you," Loki explained tersely, "She is accustomed to my touch."

Thor's silence drew Loki's curiosity and he looked up to find him staring at him with an intent and probing gaze.

"Who is she?" he asked.

"I will tell you no more than you already know, so there is little point in your asking," Loki replied curtly, looking once more to the unconscious girl, wondering what she was Seeing.

"I meant who is she to _you_," Thor clarified.

Loki's head shot up. Why did Thor have to chose _this_ moment to be perceptive?

"I am her … friend," he replied evasively, the words sounding strange when shaped by his tongue.

"You still do not answer my question, Loki," Thor prompted.

Loki narrowed his eyes and glared at him, but Thor refused to drop his gaze.

"I will not give this up, Loki," he warned, "I have never seen you like this with another. I would know what she means to you."

Loki scoffed disdainfully as he realised the meaning behind his 'brother's words.

"Surely you do not think me _enamoured_ with her?" he spat, scathingly, "For pity's sake, Thor, she is _mortal_. Do you really think I would sink so low as to bestow my affections on one of so pathetic a race? I have not your stupidity, nor your contemptible _sentimentality_."

"Then explain why you treat her as you do."

Loki held Thor's gaze for a moment before his green eyes once again dropped to Efanna. The question troubled him, for it was not one he could answer, not even in the privacy of his own mind.

"She is the most stubborn creature in all the Nine Realms, and most likely in all the worlds beyond," he replied finally, his voice as distant as his gaze.

"That is still no answer," Thor accused him, irritation creeping into his voice.

"I think perhaps it is," Loki argued quietly, the words a revelation almost unto himself; but before he was drawn into elaborating further there was a sudden gasp and they both looked down to see Efa's eyes flutter open.

"Oh, hello," she said, looking up into the two pairs of eyes that were now firmly locked on hers, "I guess you caught me again, Loki, or I think my head would be in a considerable amount of pain right now. Thanks."

She continued to stare up at them, her gaze flitting from green eyes to blue and back again. She shifted slightly uncomfortably on the floor.

"Um, you're kinda staring at me, you know. I'm not bleeding am I?"

"Nay," Thor assured her gently, "Loki caught you before you could sustain any injury."

"Oh, I thought so, but it's always good to have conformation," she said, giving Loki a warm smile and pushing herself up onto one elbow and bringing her spare hand up to rub her eyes.

"Loki tells me that collapsing like this is normal for you," Thor began, somewhat anxiously, "Does he speak the truth, or should I seek assistance?"

"No! It's fine, I'm fine," Efa assured him, "Loki was telling the truth for once."

She looked up to catch Loki's eye before continuing.

"This is nothing to worry about, nothing at all out of the ordinary. Just the same old stuff again."

Loki caught the meaning behind her words and acknowledged it with a slight nod.

"I told you there was no need for concern," he protested to Thor, drawing attention away from Efa's words.

"Forgive me brother," Thor apologised, "But you have given me little reason to believe your words of late."

"And you have given me little reason to want you to," Loki retorted.

"Let's keep away from the fighting, shall we?" Efanna said wearily, pressing her forehead to her palm.

She grabbed onto the edge of the sofa to slowly pull herself upright, but her movements were sluggish and she swayed slightly on sitting upright.

"Efanna, are you sure you are alright?" Thor asked, concerned.

"I'm just tired," she replied with a wan smile, "It's been a very long day."

Loki watched carefully to see if there was anything she was hiding behind her words, but they seemed genuine. Pip shouldered his way past Thor to give her face a nudge and she gave him a brief scratch under the chin.

"I think perhaps, Fury," she said, speaking once again in the direction of the ceiling, "That we leave my explanations until the morning, regardless of when Natasha arrives. They will be far more coherent if I am awake enough to be able to string a sentence together."

There was a brief pause before the Director's voice echoed through the room.

"_Agreed. I'll schedule a meeting first thing in the morning."_

"Thanks. Make sure it's somewhere private though please. I'm not telling everyone on this ship. Oh, and send for Thor when Natasha arrives," she added, "Her injuries are beyond Midgardian medicine. She'll need healing stones."

There was no response over the communications system, but Efa didn't seem particularly bothered. She watched Thor intently for a moment, whose brow was furrowed with unease, then shuffled towards Loki and leant her head against his shoulder. Loki was a little surprised at the action, he had thought she might want to keep her distance from him so as not to damage her image in the opinions of her new friends.

"Can I go to bed now?" she asked sleepily.

o

Tony Stark and Bruce Banner watched the screen intently as their two newest 'visitors' were escorted back to their rooms. Stark raised an eyebrow as the redhead turned to hug the psycho, and raised it even higher when the deranged Asgardian reluctantly hugged her back briefly before the two disappeared into their respective rooms.

"Jarvis, keep an eye on their audio feeds, let me know if they say anything interesting," he instructed his AI, before turning to the scientist beside him.

"_As you wish sir,"_ came the smooth reply.

"Well, that was … interesting," Bruce muttered with his usual understatement.

"This ginger kid is certainly sparking my interest," Tony agreed. He had to admit her cool, light-hearted manner and the way she seemed to see right to the heart of everyone and everything was kinda impressive, and the amount of knowledge she seemed to possess somewhat worrying.

"I'm definitely looking forward to her explanation tomorrow," Bruce commented, obviously thinking along the same lines.

He moved to check the multitude of monitors and screens behind them that were running various scientific and statistical analysis programs on the data Jarvis was downloading from the satellites they'd hacked. Any data which looked as though it could be relevant or useful was being sent to a separate screen, and in the time they'd been watching the meeting between Thor and Loki a substantial amount had stacked up.

"There's undoubtedly something behind what she told us. I'm no meteorologist, but these readings are like nothing I've ever seen. In the last five days the record for the coldest recorded temperature has already been broken three times. And there are these clusters showing up on the thermal imaging… It's hard to get an accurate reading from orbit, but these are temperatures that go well beyond what's normally seen on Earth, and they don't follow any sort of weather patterns."

"Could be 'creepy-ass misty ice creatures' then?" Tony asked, thinking back to how Efanna had described the things that had attacked them and pulling up the data on the screen nearest him, "If I can just plot the movement of these 'clusters'…"

He flicked the map in front of him onto the largest of the screens and waited for a moment as the program ran. Small white dots flowed over the northern-most reaches of the landmasses, pausing at certain locations and growing before moving on.

"Jarvis, get the coordinates of any location where these things pause, mark them on the map and cross-reference them with any reports of unusual storms, attacks, loss of commutations or missing people since they appeared."

"_Right away, sir."_

Several points were highlighted on the map and within moments there were files attached to almost all of them of recent occurrences in the area which could be linked to the moving areas of extreme cold. Some of the last to be plotted were the location of the Alaskan S.H.I.E.L.D. base and the coordinates that Tony had obtained for Efanna's home.

"Well, that's either one hell of a coincidence, or we're onto something," he muttered as Bruce looked over his shoulder.

"There's not much of a discernible pattern, but this is certainly unusual," the Doctor commented, tapping the point of light in the middle of Wales, "There's nothing else this far south, nothing else even on the British Isles."

"So what, you reckon they went there specifically?" Tony speculated, "Do you reckon they could have known she was keeping Loki there? Maybe they'd come to collect him, could be his new army or something."

"No, I don't think so. If they were with him he wouldn't've let us take him away. Why would you send your soldiers to collect you and then let yourself be captured by the enemy?"

"It's what he did last time isn't it? Who knows why that head-case does anything?"

"It doesn't make sense," Bruce disagreed, "He'd do one or the other, not both. Maybe this has nothing to do with Loki at all, maybe him being there is just a coincidence. You said the girl was the only one who could see them. Perhaps these 'creatures' know about her somehow. Maybe they see her as a threat."

Tony considered this.

"Well, she's certainly unusual enough," he admitted, "And she said she was the only one who could give us information on these things."

"In which case I'm glad she is currently in our custody. I see you've made progress."

The two scientists turned to see Director Fury standing in the doorway, Agent Hill and Thor behind him.

"How'd the family reunion go?" Tony asked as they invited themselves into the room.

"You mean you _weren't_ listening in?" Fury asked sarcastically.

"Of course I was," Tony acknowledged, "But it's polite to ask, you know. Straight from the horse's mouth and all."

Agent Hill rolled her eyes. Thor, however, took the matter more seriously.

"It went as well as could be expected," he reported, "I am more interested in this girl however. She is most unusual. The Director says you have researched her past."

Tony sighed irritably. As a matter of principle he'd instructed Jarvis to find out everything about this girl who had somehow managed to call him on his most secret of numbers as soon as she'd hung up; the results however had been distinctly disappointing.

"As far as I can tell you, she doesn't have one. She has no online presence whatsoever. No facebook, no twitter, no blog. I mean, seriously, she's what, twenty, and she doesn't even have facebook?"

Tony finished his rant incredulously and brought up the little he _had_ found on one of the screens. He hated it when his technology couldn't tell him everything he needed to know.

"There's an e-mail, obviously, and I've accessed records of bills, tax, bank accounts, shopping receipts, anything related to her address. But all of them are in the name of a Ms D Jones, no mention of the name 'Efanna' anywhere. So I checked the birth records for anyone born in the late eighties to early nineties with the name Efanna; there's not one Efanna Jones, and every other Efanna has her own, normal, life – with facebook – and is most definitely _not_ our little redhead. I've even done an image search using a screen-grab from your surveillance feeds which produced no decent matches at all. Not one photograph anywhere on the internet. I went deeper, but still the only thing I could find was a few shots from CCTV in Cardiff on September 21st, which at least corroborate her story of meeting Loki there and him strangling her."

He flicked up a few grainy images of the raven-haired Asgardian with his hand about Efanna's throat and then of him dragging her across Cardiff bay.

"This 'Ms D Jones' is obviously an alias," he continued, "Every other family seems to be called Jones in Wales and there's no record of her until she crops up out of nowhere to buy the farm in early 1990. After that she pays every bill on time, gets an e-mail when they come along, then does all her shopping online and sells paintings under the name of 'Samhain's Child'. Other than that – nothing and it can't even be our girl anyway, I mean look at her! There's no way she was old enough to buy a farm in 1990. Apart from the fact that she's obviously here, I'd have to say that she doesn't exist."

"So she's a fugitive?" Agent Hill asked as everyone processed the information.

"No, I don't think so," Bruce argued, "If you're running from someone, or something, you don't just call an organisation like S.H.I.E.L.D. up for help like that, no matter what the threat is. Believe me, I was one for long enough to know. And if she was running then she would have been caught on camera at some point, it's impossible not to be, and if she was then Tony's search would've picked her up."

"It's impossible to erase an entire existence completely," Tony agreed, "If there was anything I could find on her I would've found it and if she was a fugitive of some sort then there _would_ be something. But the only thing I can tell you is that _someone_ has been living on that farm for the past twenty-two years, someone who's been very careful about keeping themselves hidden. The closest I have to personal information is the contents of their online shopping, and that's not even that interesting."

"So what, you're saying she just popped up out of nowhere?" Fury asked sceptically.

"I have no idea," Tony admitted grumpily, "Loki could've brought him with her for all I know."

"That is impossible," Thor declared, "I was there when Loki was banished and he was sent alone. No other could have gone with him."

"So we've got nothing?" Fury clarified, looking rather pissed off, "She knows huge amounts of classified information and we've got _nothing_?"

"I'm dying to know how she's done it," Tony said with a pout, closing the open files on her a little more forcefully than was really necessary and pushing one of the screens askew, "It shouldn't be possible."

"Just because it's beyond your abilities, doesn't mean it's impossible, Stark," Hill quipped.

Tony glared at her.

"When it comes to something that I, Tony Stark, am an expert in, then yes, if I can't do it, it's impossible," he retorted disdainfully.

The agent glared back at him. The tension in the room seemed almost suffocating. It was clear that their lack of knowledge wasn't only bothering Tony. He remembered what the redhead had said earlier and scowled. '_If there's one thing both he and Fury have in common it's that they both love keeping secrets, but hate having secrets kept from them_'. How _could_ she know so much about them and there be _nothing_ to find out about her?

"I guess we'll just have to wait for her to tell us," Bruce said with a sigh.

* * *

**So, did I do Thor and Loki's reunion justice? Was Tony's POV okay? Bit nervous about this chapter! Let me know xXx**


	23. Frostbite

**Thank you to everyone who has kept reading, and alerting and favouriting and reviewing this! I'm so sorry for the horrifically long wait, thank you so much for sticking with me!**

This has taken forever. I'm so sorry. I shan't bother making excuses though, and just let you read it.

I have also created a tumblr for this story : ] All the chapters are on there, and I'll be able to update on the writing, and I'm hoping write some drabbles and things too : ] the url is samhainschild if you want to go have a look. Feel free to ask me questions on there too, and even ask Loki or Efa if you like! It helps with the character building : ]

Notes:

No Loki or Efa in this one! (Which I think is why it was so hard to write). You get Natasha and Thor instead.

If you have watched the deleted scenes from Thor you'll know that they had their healing stones used by crushing them and then sprinkling them on. I didn't like this, and seeing as it never made the final cut I decided to change them. Instead, my version work by being enchanted by healers or magicians so that their magical healing properties can be used by anyone who knows the rune to release the magic. Once the magic held within the stones is spent they can then be recharged by a healer/magician. Only those with a knowledge of magic can make the stones, but anyone can use them. Personally I think this makes much more sense : ]

o

**Chapter Twenty Three:**

**Frostbite**

* * *

The base in Alaska was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most secure facility. Built deep in the mountains, under hundreds of feet of rock and at least seventy-five miles of constantly monitored wilderness from the nearest civilisation, it was supposed to be impenetrable. It was the home of their most secret of operations. Rumour had it that not even the Agents who worked there really knew what was going on in the mass of underground tunnels. So when an alert had rang out that there'd been an unscheduled lockdown there, it was serious business. Code E1 – facility breached by hostile forces.

A response team had quickly been assembled and Natasha, being the highest ranking Agent available, was assigned to lead it. That had been three hours ago, and they'd still been unable to establish any form of communication with the base.

"Coming up now, Black Widow," the pilot informed her.

She nodded curtly, and began readying the thick outerwear needed to protect her from the freezing temperatures.

"Proceed according to plan," she directed, "Bell and Hunt will go with me on recon; Harris, Stone, you'll guard the approach; Taylor, Davies, Wilson, once you've dropped us you proceed to the comms site – see if you can establish contact with any of ours still inside and try and get some more info on what actually went on here. Understood?"

There was an assorted affirmation, which she mostly ignored, concentrating instead on loading her weapons and checking everything was correctly fitted. With distaste she pulled on the thin black gloves. They were a new material, supposed to reduce impact on movement whilst maintaining maximum insulation, but she hated having her hands covered in any way. No amount of techno-fabric could replicate the minute details that her fingers could pick up, nor the precise sensation of the biting point of a trigger. But it was better to suffer this annoyance than risk frostbite.

Five minutes later, she and her team of four agents were being lowered to the location of the entrance to the base with the shortest access route. There were at least five separate entrances in total, some with up to four miles of tunnelling or stairs before they reached the base proper. This one had the shortest access time, but was also the hardest to get into, involving finding and traversing a narrow and precipitous ledge, hidden behind a large outcropping of rock.

Natasha navigated the approach easily but stopped short when she caught site of the entrance, her hand immediately flying to her gun. The cleverly disguised and highly secure door was wide open, the corridor beyond fading into inky blackness where it should have been brightly lit. She grabbed a torch from a pouch on her belt and fixed it into the specially designed slots on the top of her gun, before slowly approaching the entrance. Thick patches of ice covered the walls and floor, and icicles hung from the light fittings above them. Natasha's breath steamed in front of her as she carefully made her way over to the small room to the side of the corridor, where the guards should be stationed. The light of her torch glinted on splintered shards of metal that must have once been the door. Cautiously she let her beam of light fall into the room, revealing the two disfigured corpses that were strewn across the floor, frozen in place.

A second beam of light joined hers and she heard Harris' startled gasp. Natasha straightened up, and turned her torch and her attention to the long corridor. Those men were dead. Nothing could be done about them now.

"You know what you have to do," she told her team sternly, starting down the corridor. After a brief hesitation, two pairs of footsteps followed her.

As they worked their way further into the base, torchlight roaming the walls and floor around them, they found several more of the icy corpses. Every door they passed was either iced shut, or shattered and the absolute silence spoke of the state of the massive generator which should have been humming gently as it powered the base. With each step they took the temperature dropped until even Natasha could feel the cold invading her clothing. It was looking more and more likely that there were no survivors and instinct cried out to her to turn back. But she had her orders, and she would follow them.

The three agents reached an intersection and Natasha silently gave the signal for them to split up, instructing them to keep comm links open. She took the middle of the three paths, the one that led deepest into the mountain. For another five minutes she came across nothing more than ice and corpses. She could feel the cold beginning to seep into her bones, but firmly shoved the sensation aside. She'd grown up through the harsh winters of Russia. Being cold was nothing new.

There was a burst of static from her earpiece, but she could barely make out any words. Those boys at the comms tower better get working fast. Being buried so deep in the rock the only way signal could penetrate this far into the base was through the enhanced relay systems that travelled through the walls, but considering the state of all the other tech, it seemed like they were out of operation too. So she was on her own.

She almost turned back at that thought. This was a recon mission, not recovery or counter-attack. Without backup things could get very messy, very fast if whoever did this was still here. But everything she'd seen so far pointed to the attackers having left and Fury expected answers. She couldn't leave until she had some to give.

There was another burst of static as she turned into a large room, possibly designed for training or testing. Whatever had been there was a mangled wreck now, covered in ice. She swept her torch around it, fingers clenching her gun tight as she ignored the crackling in her ear. If she had been younger she might have turned it off, but she'd learnt the hard way that communications could be re-established at any moment and with vital information. The comm stayed on.

She clenched her jaw to stop her teeth from chattering as she slowly began to pace the room, looking for anything that might tell her what had gone on here. Something had to be wrong. She never felt the cold this badly.

Suddenly she sensed something move behind her and span around, reaching to her hip for her second gun. She froze, scanning the area with her torch beam, but there was nothing there. Her breath froze in front of her face and joined the faint mist that seemed to cling to the floor. Slowly she turned about, searching every inch of the room with her light.

The room was empty. Nothing there but ice. But _something_ had to be there. She was an assassin. She knew when someone was watching her.

There was another crackle in her ear, and it was at that precise moment that she felt a sudden sharp pain across her cheekbone. She spun quickly, eyes desperately searching for whatever had caused her injury, but once again, she could see nothing. Her face almost felt numb where she had been hit, but she could feel the heat of her blood trickling across her skin, almost seeming to burn. The cold was even more intense and it was all she could do to keep her aching limbs from shaking as she slowly rotated on the spot, all senses alert for any sign of movement.

"_Na… …n yo… … …e?"_ Natasha could almost make out words in this burst of static. Hopefully that meant the comms system was almost back up and running.

There was another rushing, invisible attack, but this time she was able to sense it coming and dodge – just about. Blood seeped out of a fresh cut on her left forearm, and a single drop fell to the floor – and froze in midair. Natasha looked down in shock. Surely it couldn't be that cold? Slowly she backed up, still slowly scanning the room as she edged closer to the door. Something wasn't right here. She wasn't trained to deal with the supernatural – at least not alone. And invisible attackers? Yeah, that had to be supernatural.

"_Nat…sha …urn t… …ase!"_

Okay, so the words were getting clearer. Just a little. She took one more step behind her, eyes still scanning the room when suddenly she felt a piercing cold seeping through the back of her clothes.

She span, bracing her arms and shooting a string of bullets. She still couldn't see anything, but her left arm collided with something, hard. She seemed to have been able to shove it out of the way, but watched in horror as the gun in her hand froze as she tried to pull the trigger.

"_Natasha! … re… …o base! …peat! Return …o …se!"_

Yep, that was clearer. Return to base. She didn't need telling twice.

She picked up her pace, backing up the way she'd come, still checking all sides for movement of any sort. She'd almost made it to the corridor when something grabbed her injured left arm. A piercing cold suddenly shot through her and a terrible numbness spread across her arm. She struggled, trying to free herself from whatever had her in its grasp, but its hold was too strong. Desperately she shot several bullets into the air before her and around her arm and let out an audible sigh of relief when she felt the grip on her arm slacken. With a wrench she was able to free herself and stumbled backwards before retreating at a full out run. She moved as fast as she dared without slipping, the icy air searing her lungs and the numbness of her arm screaming at her. She didn't dare look back.

When she reached the join in the corridors where she'd left her teammates she paused briefly, wondering if she should find them. But her orders had only been to return. They would have had the same, or… Or they were already dead.

The thought spurred her on. There was less ice here so she was able to move faster. It would be only minutes until she would escape this death trap. She avoided looking at her arm, which she had cradled hard against her stomach as she ran. She knew it was bad. She didn't want to know just how bad until she was safe.

o

It was nearing midnight where the Helicarrier hovered majestically in the cloudy skies above the Atlantic ocean. Thor stood by the large windows of the control room of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mighty floating fortress, watching as they skimmed the tops off the highest of storm clouds. Above them the night sky glittered and shone in all its glory, and even the writhing mass of dark clouds beneath them looked peaceful from their altitude. The scene unsettled Thor, for he was well aware that all was not calm and good.

His thoughts, and his emotions, were in turmoil. Seeing Loki again had not been easy. The extent to which he had changed saddened him. His missed his brother. Missed the sarcastic remarks that would be whispered into his ear during the tedium of council meetings. Missed the constant banter between them. Missed the way Loki could always tell if he was down and would make him laugh. He even missed the trickery and mischief and chaos that would follow in his wake. To see his brother look at him with such hatred. To have him disown him in such a manner. It cut Thor to his core.

He did not understand what could have happened to change his brother so. The All-Father had told Thor of Loki's true parentage, but, after the first momentary shock, it had not mattered. Nothing could change the centuries they had spent at each others' sides. Their bond as brothers was not in blood, but in their shared experiences, their shared memories. For Thor it would always be so. That it was no longer for Loki worried him endlessly.

The words the red-haired mortal, Efanna, had spoken earlier to him rang through his mind. Not just the description of the pain, the suffering that she claimed Loki had gone though, but the pain in her own eyes as she had spoken. It was impossible to disbelieve words spoken so empathically, and thinking of what that meant unsettled Thor's mind. He knew Loki had been hurt. _Something_ must have happened to make him make claim to Midgard as he had, but the extent to which Efanna had eluded to… He had not considered the full extent of how much Loki might have suffered.

Since Loki had fallen Thor had replayed the last encounters he had had with his brother over and over. Analysed every second, attempting to find anything which might explain Loki's actions, worrying that he should have done something differently that could have prevented all of this. He had been through every memory a thousand times and still it had brought him no insight, nor comfort. He only hoped that these most recent recollections might weigh less heavy on his conscience.

He had done what Efanna had suggested and kept his temper, although at times he had been hard pressed to do so. By controlling his emotions however, he had seen more of Loki than he would usually notice. He could sense the pain behind the venom that laced his words. But Efanna was right. Loki had changed since Thor had last seen him, and that change could only be for the better. Hostility had radiated from him during the months he had been kept in Asgard, even hatred. Whilst much of that had today been again directed at him, Thor had been amazed at the way he had treated Efanna.

He wasn't sure which of the two confused him more in the way they interacted with each other. Efa's confident comfort in his presence was like nothing he had ever seen before. The way she teased him constantly was something few would be brave enough to do, and yet she somehow seemed assured that she would come to no harm. But the way his brother responded to her actions! He had not been angry or violent, had not retaliated in any way. Thor had never imagined that Loki would ever allow someone to undermine his pride as she did. Yet there almost seemed to be amusement in the trickster's eyes when he had looked at her. And the way in which he had caught and held her when she fell…

Thor shook his head and pressed his hand to his eyes. She must be an astonishing creature indeed to wring from Loki such an affable reaction, by his standards at least. And she said she had known him little over a month. The girl was an enigma, and she worried Thor. There was no way she could possess the information that she so obviously did. No way that she should be so comfortable with Loki, and he with her. And according to Stark, no way that she should exist at all, not with a past that could not be traced. It seemed that she was on the side of good – calling them here, giving them information they would otherwise not have had – but what if this was all a ruse? Could she somehow be a conspirator of his brother? They had little but her word to go on that she was telling the truth.

And yet there was an honesty about her that seemed to emanate from her very soul. When she spoke she somehow seemed to infuse her words with such emotion that made her impossible to believe false. And the words that she had spoken had shamed even him. Surely none, not even his brother, could lie with such complete conviction as that? Moreover it was obvious that there was _something_ amiss in Midgard, and everything that she had told them seemed to tally up with what they could discover of this strange phenomenon. It was as the Doctor Banner had said, they would just have to wait for her explanation.

The sound of footsteps interrupted Thor's thoughts and he span, warily, still not comfortable in this flying fortress. He relaxed when he saw they merely belonged to the archer, Barton.

"Can't sleep?" the agent asked, coming to stand next to Thor, and watch the clouds.

"I am not tired," he replied, "Time flows differently between the realms. Were I still on Asgard it would not yet be late. It will take some time, I think, to adjust to the difference. Besides, I wish to be ready for when Natasha returns. The girl, Efanna's, words worry me."

"Yeah, me too."

The man's words were short, his voice tight. Thor turned to look at him, assessing his stance, the way his brow furrowed.

"You care for her a great deal, don't you?" he asked.

Clint grunted slightly, his eyes staring straight ahead.

"We have history. She was there when I needed her. I'm gonna be there when she needs me."

"It is good to have such companions," Thor agreed, delicately letting the subject drop. He was not quite so oblivious as some thought him.

"She is a skilled warrior, I am proud to be able to say that I have fought by her side."

Once again, Clint merely grunted his response.

"The girl, she said that Tasha's injuries were '_beyond Midgardian medicine_'," the agent muttered after a moment, "Will you be able to heal them?"

He turned his head to look up at Thor, and the Asgardian could see the desperation in the man's eyes.

"I do not know until I have seen the wound," he replied sombrely, "I am no healer, but every warrior of Asgard has in his possession a number of healing stones. They are usually sufficient for all but the most serious of injuries. I can only hope that it is so in this case."

Clint grunted again, turning his eyes back to the window. They stood in silence for a few minutes, each man consumed by his own worries until their thoughts were interrupted by the somewhat timid voice of one of the agents working the night shift.

"Uh, excuse me, Thor? Agent Romanoff's jet has arrived. You're wanted in the medical bay."

The two men were moving even before the agent had finished speaking.

"I'll show you the way," Clint barked, shouldering past the woman. Thor followed, matching the archers pace easily.

The route Clint took them was not a simple one, but was relatively short; within a few minutes they had arrived in the main area of the medical bay. The agent working on the front desk took one look at them and directed them to a room two doors down the first corridor. Natasha was sat on a chair, wrapped in blankets, whilst one of the medical staff slowly unwound the loose bandages that covered her left arm. She looked up as they entered, one eyebrow raising slightly. There was a gash on one side of her face, around which the skin was a purplish colour.

"This really is serious then?" she asked, turning her head to the corner where the Director stood.

"Apparently about as serious as it gets," Fury answered, his gaze turning to Thor, to whom he gave a slight nod.

The Asgardian could sense the reluctance with which he spoke, and suspected that he did not wish their conversation to be overheard by the healer. He returned the nod and moved to Natasha's side, watching intently as the bandages were removed. The skin beneath was blackened and blistered. It was not a pretty sight, even the healer was looking somewhat shocked.

"Frostbite?" Thor questioned.

"It would appear so," the woman answered, looking timidly up at the agents and the Director, "I'm not sure how much I can do…"

Barton moved to stand behind Natasha, his face grim as he placed a hand on her shoulder. Natasha's own face betrayed no emotion.

"It will need to be re-warmed before I can use the stones," Thor instructed.

The woman nodded as she finished removing the bandages around Natasha's arm, then gently moved it to a small water bath.

"This is set to around one-hundred-and-five degrees Fahrenheit," she explained, "You'll need to keep an eye on her heartbeat and core temperature, make sure she stays warm."

She looked around questioningly, her eyes lingering on Fury.

"Is there anything else you want me to do, Sir?" she asked.

The Director's eye jumped to Thor, his eyebrow raising slightly.

"You have done all that is required," he assured her, "Thank you for your assistance."

The woman's eyes shifted back to Natasha, and then back to Fury again, before she reluctantly went to the door.

"Ensure the water remains at the right temperature," she instructed, before she left, "And call me if pain meds are required. The re-warming process is painful."

The Director checked the door was properly closed once she'd gone, and then moved to take a seat opposite Natasha.

"I think it's safe to say the mission didn't exactly go to plan," he stated.

"It seems things aren't going quite so smoothly here for you to insist I give my report in person," Natasha retorted, raising an eyebrow.

"There have been certain… complications," Fury admitted, "But first, I wanna know what happened in Alaska."

Natasha nodded, and looked briefly down at her arm.

"It's a mess," she reported, "Facility was wide open, completely destroyed. All tech was down. No survivors. I sent Taylor, Davies and Wilson to work on comms; Harris and Stone were stationed to guard the approach; Bell, Hunt and I were on recon – I was the only one who came back."

She paused for a moment, her eyes distant. Thor noticed Clint give her shoulder a quick squeeze.

"There was no recognisable sign of the attackers. Nothing to give any clue on ID, or at least, nothing I could explain. But the whole place was frozen – literally – and the deeper in I went, the colder it got. It wasn't just ice though, there were doors that had been … shattered somehow, and the bodies… If you think my arm's bad, you oughta have a look at them. And there was something there…"

"What sort of 'something'?" Fury interrupted.

"I dunno. I couldn't see it. Whatever it was, it wasn't natural and it was hostile. It attacked – two projectile hits, and then it grabbed my arm as I was attempting retreat. Bullets seemed to do something, I can't really say – but they seemed to make it let go. It froze my gun on impact and, well, you can see what it did to my arm. No visual throughout the entire thing."

The group were silent for a moment.

"That sounds like the creatures Efanna described," he noted. Thor was worried. From what he knew, there should not be such creatures on Midgard.

"There's been another encounter?" Natasha asked, sounding surprised.

Fury nodded.

"At 8:20 this morning, Stark received a phone call on a secure line. The girl who'd called him then proceeded to tell him that she had information on the current abnormal weather, but that she would die if he didn't come to collect her immediately. When he arrived they were attacked by invisible creatures that used ice as a weapon which only she claimed to be able to see. She is also the one who first alerted us to the danger you were in, and the one who prompted the order to get you out. She knows an astounding amount of classified information, but is refusing to tell us how until 'everyone's here' – which means we've been waiting on you. Stark did a full background check on her and found nothing. He says that, as far as he can tell, she doesn't exist. Stark may be an arrogant pain the ass, but if he can't find anything on her, then sure as hell, nobody else is gonna."

Natasha's brow furrowed at the news

"Where is she now?"

"On board, asleep. She's under guard and surveillance. I've agreed to wait until morning for her to spill the beans. She's been cooperative so far."

Fury and Barton shared a look, and Thor knew what was coming next.

"There's one more thing you should be aware of," the Director started, "She had Loki with her."

"Loki?"

Natasha looked shocked. Thor supposed it wasn't really that surprising, none of them had known he had been sent to Midgard.

"Loki was stripped of his powers, bound in mortal form and banished as punishment for his crimes," Thor explained, "The girl, Efanna, somehow found him, and took him in."

Natasha raised one eyebrow delicately.

"Some kid just happened across Loki and decided to take him home?" Her tone was incredulous.

"Yeah, that was more or less my reaction," Clint muttered from behind her.

"We should not judge her harshly," Thor insisted, "She has done nothing wrong, and I believe her actions may have helped this situation far more than anything else could have."

He felt strangely protective of the young redhead. She had been the first person since the 'incident' to look at Loki as a person, and seemed capable of provoking a side of him Thor had long feared might be lost forever. For that he would always owe her a debt of gratitude. Perhaps she could even help him further, as she claimed she might.

"We don't know that yet," Barton argued, "She still hasn't told us where she got her information. She could be working with Loki against us for all we know."

"I do not believe that to be true," Thor maintained.

"Whatever she is, we'll find out tomorrow," Fury remonstrated with a stern glare, "She is not our main concern right now."

He looked pointedly towards Natasha's arm. Thor nodded and bent down to inspect the frostbitten flesh, still submerged in the water bath.

"How does it feel?" he asked.

"I've had worse," she replied with a grimace, "Not by much, but I have."

Thor gave her a small smile. The woman was certainly brave. Slowly he reached into the water and gently felt her blackened skin. It seemed to yield to his touch, he thought it was probably ready. Inwardly he wished Loki was here. His brother knew far more about the healing arts, whereas Thor was working mostly on guesswork and instinct. But it was all he could do in the situation. Loki would not help, and he did not have his magic even if that were not the case.

"Remove your arm, and gently dry it – do not rub the skin, that will only make it worse," he instructed.

Natasha did as he asked whilst he dug in his pockets for his supply of healing stones. He chose a fairly large one and held it just above Natasha's injured arm, the others watching him intently.

"Keep it still," he directed before clearly enunciating the name of the rune carved upon the stone's smooth surface and fixing his mind upon the frostbitten flesh.

The rune began to glow softly, and the same glow encased Natasha's arm in a golden light which lingered for perhaps a minute before slowly dissipating. When it cleared her arm was revealed, the skin once again pale and unblemished.

* * *

**So, what did you think? I hope it's okay, especially after so long a wait! I felt we needed more of the other character's reflections on Efa and Loki, and that the threat needed building up a bit. Let me know.**

**Love you all x**


	24. Telling The Truth

Yes, I know. Hello again, if there's anyone still here. If you are, then seriously, why? It's been _months_. Are you really still interested in this? If you are then wow, I love you, thank you so much, please don't hate me for taking so long.

Long story short, lots of health issues + massive confidence crash = no work on fanfics. I'm still all over the place so I'm not sure how regular updates will be, but I've remembered how much I love this story, so I'm gonna try and finish it, for myself primarily as that's the only way I can write it at the moment. As long as there are people who still wanna read it on here, I'll keep posting. Just keep in mind that updates may be sporadic. Thank you all for your patience.

o

**Chapter Twenty Four:**

**Telling The Truth**

* * *

"Now, can we finally get started?"

The director sounded impatient and Efa supposed she couldn't blame him. She'd once again insisted on greeting everyone properly, hugging anyone she hadn't yet hugged - except Fury - and generally being what she was sure most of them, including Loki, considered over-enthusiastic. Partly she was just excited to actually _meet_ these people she'd known her whole life, partly she hoped that hugging them all would help dispel the idea that she and Loki were going to do something evil. She conceded, however, that mostly it was probably just to try and stall the inevitable moment of explanation, which she was sure would result in them all hating her.

She gave Pip, who was sat under the table with his head on her lap, one last stroke, winding her fingers firmly in his fur, then looked up. The calm rush of his Memories were denied to her seeing as she was wearing her gloves, but it was comforting nonetheless. The table was wedge-shaped, it's two long sides angled meaning that everyone had a clear view of her and Loki, sat at the wider end as they were. Fury sat directly opposite them, alone at the head of the table. Agent Hill was to his left, and Clint to his right, just about as far from Loki as he could get. Thor and Tony sat nearest to them, Thor to Efa's left, closest to Loki, and Tony just to her right. Steve and Natasha filled the two seats between Thor and Clint. The only empty chair was between Hill and Bruce. All of them were staring at her. The result was rather intimidating.

"I'm not sure where to start," she admitted.

"How about you take it from the beginning?" Fury suggested.

Efanna's eyes immediately sought out Loki's at that. The exchange was so similar to the one they had had, almost exactly a month ago now. It felt like a lifetime. The repetition obviously wasn't lost on him either. It was almost eerie, and certainly didn't help her confidence. Hopefully this lot would take it better than he had. They had a lot more scope to actually do her harm. Although it had ended up turning out alright last time, she reasoned. Sort of. She wished she could have had a Vision of how this was going to go, although she supposed there were so many variables that anything she might have Seen would have inevitably been a chaotic mess and no real use at all.

She took a deep breath and tried to steady her nerves again. The beginning. Efanna suddenly felt weary. There was so much to explain. This was hard enough the first time.

"That's a very long way," she said, trying to push her thoughts into some semblance of order in her mind. Not that it was much use. She'd been trying to do that all night and still hadn't really got anywhere.

"We have time," Fury countered.

Efa sighed. The intensity of the states she was receiving from all sides, even from Loki, were not helping her think.

"Okay, what do you want to know?" she asked. "Answering your questions might help me frame my explanation."

A few glances were shared around the table, silently pointing out that of course their questions were all obvious. But, Efa reasoned, being asked them might at least provide her with a starting point.

"Let's start with where you obtained the _vast_ amount of highly classified information you possess," Fury suggested, "How you knew about Agent Romanoff and the situation in Alaska. How you know so much about the current situation and these 'ice-creatures'. How you were able to call Stark on a number he assures me you couldn't have known."

"She _couldn't_," Tony interjected stubbornly, "And whilst we're on the questions, how did you even knew that was going to happen, _four hours_ before it did? And believe me, that's just for starters, Missy."

"Okay, that really doesn't help at all," Efa moaned, resisting the urge to slump forward and bash her head against the table in frustration. Instead she looked down at Pip, his eyes steady and encouraging as always.

"I'm just going to have to come out and say it aren't I?" she muttered, more to her dog than anyone else. He gave her hand a little lick. She glanced up at Loki again, which wasn't much help. His expression was carefully guarded and offered no support or suggestion as to how to move forward.

"Okay then," she announced with a strange sort of false enthusiasm, turning to face her audience and buoying herself up for the inevitable fallout her explanation would produce. They wouldn't react any better if she kept stalling. It was now or never. Right now she almost wished it could be never.

"I have Visions."

In her state of heightened anxiety the reactions to her statement seemed almost comical. Eyebrows were raised, one or two mouths even opened slightly. She could almost taste the disbelief in the air. With a quick glance around the table, Efa decided Thor was the only one who wasn't currently questioning her sanity. Loki was almost laughing, although she doubted anyone else would be able to tell.

"Visions."

Tony was, unsurprisingly, the first one to voice his incredulity.

"So, what, you're a psychic?" His tone was highly sceptical, and he looked rather like he thought she was either taking the piss, or psychotic.

"That's not a word I'd choose," Efa said.

"What would you call yourself then?" Agent Hill asked.

"Efanna," Efa answered, not particularly meaning to be sarcastic, but gaining more raised eyebrows. "I've never really thought about it that way, what I'd be called or classed as. It's just the way I am. I've only ever just been me."

There was a pause as everyone took in the fact that she was actually serious.

"So you see the future?" Steve asked.

"Yes. Sort of. At least, partly. It's much more complicated than that."

"So explain it," Fury instructed. It was hard to tell exactly what the director was thinking, but at the moment he looked more interested than anything else. Efa supposed he had gotten used to dealing with the unusual, and was probably trying to work out how he could use this to his advantage.

"Okay…" she started, wondering where best to start, "What do you know about ancient Celtic beliefs, or modern Paganism?"

She didn't really need to wait for an answer.

"Eh, thought not. Right, quick lesson then. Samhain, often spelt sam-hain, was - and indeed still is - a Pagan festival, and is also the traditional Celtic New Year. These days it's been replaced by Halloween and very few remember the original significance."

"How exactly is this relevant?" Tony interrupted.

"I'll get to that in a minute," she promised. Starting from here calmed her somewhat, got her into the mindset of explaining things, but without being too painful for her, or shocking for the others. Breaking it gently one might say.

"Samhain is the time at which the veil between worlds is at its thinnest," she continued, "At Samhain time loses all meaning; the past, the present, and the future all blend into one. Midnight is when all of this reaches its peak. And that's when I was born. Exactly midnight on Samhain, twenty-two years ago. Somehow, we've never known why, but we think that changed me. As though being born in that moment of no-time - or perhaps all-time - means that I have a different relationship to time than other - normal - people."

Efanna took another deep breath. This is where it started to get complicated. Another quick glance around the table revealed a range of expressions, from sceptical to intrigued. Her eyes flicked back to the table before she spoke again, however, her hands once again balling up in Pip's fur under the table. She really wasn't used to having this many people pay attention to her.

"All my life I've had these Visions. They cover all states of time, the past and the present as well as the future. They're not something I can control-" she wanted to get that straight from the start, she wasn't having SHIELD try to turn her into their own personal fortune teller "-They're completely random, both in timing and in content. I can't sit down and choose what I want to See. I don't just See _anything_ however; although the specifics are impossible to predict, the general theme is consistent."

Efa paused again, looking up anxiously. So far they'd all taken it rather well. She wasn't sure if they actually believed her yet, but they'd at least listened without too much protest. That was pretty unlikely to continue, she thought. Her mouth felt dry and she wondered if she'd be able to ask for some water. Considering the way they were all looking at her though, that would probably have to wait.

"I See you."

Silence reined as everyone took that in. Some looked confused, others were beginning to look suspicious.

"What do you mean, you See 'us'?" Tony asked, his eyes narrowing.

"I mean…" She took another deep breath, steadying her nerves. "The past and present and futures I See, they're yours. Your lives. Your pasts, your futures. All of you - although not really Fury and Hill. And my own of course. And Loki's. I've spent my life Seeing yours."

She stopped again, her eyes now flicking desperately between theirs, waiting for them to react. The tension in the room was almost palpable. She could sense Loki stiffening next to her. None of them were happy about her revelation, that much was obvious. Some were hiding it better than others. Clint looked almost angry, Steve somewhat shocked, Tony distinctly unimpressed. Bruce and Thor seemed to be taking it best; Bruce looked thoughtful, if slightly uncomfortable and Thor's expression was rueful, but at least he seemed accepting of the idea. Natasha's poker face was as good as ever but the slight curve to one eyebrow suggested she certainly wasn't enamoured with the idea. Efanna wanted to run and hide.

"Exactly how much do you See?" Bruce asked.

"A lot," Efa admitted, "Not everything, thankfully. But far more than I'd like. Definitely all the things of major importance I think. A fair bit that can seem a bit pointless or obscure too, or at least that doesn't make much sense yet. Most of that tends to end up meaning something though, even if I don't understand it at the time. Or I'm sure it will do. Things never come in the right order."

Deciding it might be a good idea to give them a moment to let that sink in before she dropped the next bombshell, Efanna paused again, intently watching their reactions. She assumed they were now probably trying to categorise their lives into what might be classed as things of major importance, and therefore that she was likely to have Seen.

"What sort of things are you talking about here?" Steve asked. "Could you give a few examples?"

Efanna bit her lip, trying to scramble together anything which would make sense, not be too personal to make general knowledge, and that had actually happened. There didn't seem much point complicating matters with things that they'd only have her word for yet.

"Well, Manhattan, obviously; and what happened in Alaska, you already know about that. The really big things, like, Steve, you meeting Erskine and going through the super-soldier program, a lot of your involvement in the War; Tony, what happened in Afghanistan, and you building your suits; Clint and Natasha, when you first met, and decided not to kill each other; Bruce, the accident, and, well, pretty much every time you've Hulked out; Thor, everything in New Mexico and all that."

They were very general examples, things that everyone would know about, or at least of. It made her explanation seem rather lame but she was privy to a lot of their secrets, and she would ensure that they were kept.

"Excepting Alaska, none of that would be particularly hard to find out, from the right source," Natasha pointed out, "How do we know you're telling the truth?"

"I know. I'll prove it as best I can, but I See a _lot_, and most of it's, well, pretty personal. Think of every moment in your life which has led you to where you are now, or where you're going, or where you might go. I've Seen most of those. And I'll probably end up Seeing the rest at some point in my life. I know a lot of things you don't want me to, and a lot of things you don't want other people to know. Those aren't things I'm going to tell anyone but the person who lived them. I've already invaded your privacy enough."

o

Loki watched with curiosity as their captors watched Efanna. He had stayed silent since they'd been seated, keeping still, careful that his expression showed no emotion or reaction at what transpired. Any contribution from him would inevitably do nothing but harm Efanna's explanations, and he would show no signs of weakness in the presence of those whom he still considered enemies, regardless of what Efanna would have him believe. Fading into the background as such also gave him the chance to more closely observe the reactions of those who sat around the table, allowing him to gain valuable insights as to their characters which they might have tried harder to hide had he made his presence more known. It was a familiar tactic, and one that without his usual arsenal of magic and strength was particularly important now.

So far they seemed to be dealing with her revelations remarkably well, although they had barely scratched the surface of Efa's secrets. It was her natural sincerity and the way she seemed almost to radiate her emotions, Loki suspected, that was the main factor in there thus far being so little negative reaction. Her tone was solemn, regretful, and particularly at her last admission, apologetic. Once again Loki was reminded of the extent of the guilt she placed upon herself for Seeing what she did. There was a definite undercurrent of hostility and distrust running through the room however, and Loki wondered how long it would take to rise to the surface. Her admission that she knew many things they would not want her to had certainly heightened the tension in the room considerably. Loki knew all too well how unpleasant it was to find that a complete stranger knew your life so intimately.

"You realise that virtually anything could be considered as having led us to this point," Stark commented, "So what, you've Seen everything? Our whole lives? Okay then, what did I have for breakfast… 3rd January 2006?"

Loki rolled his eyes and shot the mortal a scathing glance. Was the concept Efanna was introducing really so difficult to grasp? Efa, however, was far more patient than him, answering his question with little more than a raised eyebrow.

"Some events are more pivotal than others," she told him, "I See those. What you have for breakfast usually isn't one of them."

"Hey, breakfast is a very important meal," Stark countered, "As Pepper informs me every time I skip it."

Efanna gave a small smile at that, and Loki scowled.

"You wouldn't even remember anyway, so it's not the best way for me to prove I'm telling the truth."

"Then what is?" Fury asked.

"Could you get me some paper?" Efa asked after a moment's thought, "It needs to be A3, although two bits of A4 is okay if I can tape them together. And a pen, preferably a fine-liner, but a biro will do if it's got a steady ink flow and doesn't blotch. Black ink ideally."

Her request was met with some rather odd looks.

"What are you going to do?" Rodgers asked.

"Draw," Efanna replied simply.

The solution seemed a sound one to Loki's mind. Her drawings had been the catalyst for his discovery of her secrets, and it was hard to refute the evidence of your life sketched on paper before you. Fury considered her for a moment before agreeing to her request, ordering that her supplies be fetched through his earpiece.

"You said you have no control over when you have these Visions," Thor commented whilst they waited, "How then do you know when they will arrive, and prepare for them?"

For all that he liked to believe Thor's intellect limited, Loki was not surprised that he was first to further question how Efanna's Visions worked. The idea of such abilities as hers was far more accepted on Asgard than it was here on Earth it seemed.

"I don't," Efanna said.

"How does this work then?" Thor asked, his brow furrowing slightly, "If these Visions are truly random as you say, is it not highly inconvenient? I have never heard of a Seer who could perceive both Vision and reality at once."

"Oh, it's inconvenient," Efa snorted, "Whenever I have a Vision I pass out."

"So that is why you collapsed last night then," Thor said, realisation dawning on his face.

"And all those times on the jet?" Stark added.

"Yes."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Rodgers asked, "Passing out at random times?"

"It's not exactly safe. I've bashed my head more times than I can count, fallen down the stairs a fair amount, broken a few bones. Once or twice I've had a fairly nasty incident with knives or burns whilst cooking."

"How are you even still alive?" Stark asked sardonically.

Efa chuckled dryly.

"My Visions don't seem to ever threaten my life," she told them, "It's like they're linked to my survival instinct somehow. I'll get hurt, yes, but nothing that's ever been serious."

"Oh, so head injuries and falling down the stairs aren't serious?" Stark quipped, "I don't even want to go into the 'fairly nasty incidents with knives'."

Although he would never admit it, Loki privately agreed with this particular point. Despite, or perhaps because of, her self-restorative abilities, Efanna's attitude towards her personal safety seemed almost recklessly indifferent.

"They'd be serious for anyone else," she explained, "For me, not so much. My Visions aren't the only thing about me that doesn't exactly make sense. For some reason I, well, I heal. I think it's so the Visions don't actually kill me."

"What exactly do you mean by 'heal'?" Banner asked.

"Well, it's just like the usual healing process, but faster. The worse the injury the faster it heals. Even the worst bruise will be gone within a couple of days, and if I crack my head or break my leg it sorts itself out pretty much immediately. It takes energy though, and if it's really bad a fair amount of concentration. I don't really notice things like bruises or small cuts, but bigger things are really draining. And it still hurts. Just all in one go."

"Interesting," Banner murmured, looking thoughtful.

The door opened then, and an agent entered with a sheaf of paper and a few pens. Fury directed him to give them to Efanna, and on realising whom she was sat by, the agent elected to take the side of the table furthest from Loki to make his delivery. Loki gave him a particularly evil, knowing smile and the man balked slightly. Knowing that he still caused such fear among SHIELD's forces satisfied Loki immensely. Efanna thanked the agent politely before he exited the room as fast as he could without appearing that he was hurrying. Loki smirked.

"So how is you drawing us a picture going to convince us you're telling the truth?" Fury asked as Efa straightened the sheets before her.

"If someone could give me a scene, a memory, something visual from your life that there is no way I could know if I wasn't telling the truth," Efanna explained, "Something important that I will definitely have Seen, but be specific - one exact moment in time. Preferably something no one else saw but you and isn't recorded anywhere, so there's no way I could have gotten it from somewhere else either. Don't give me a date, I'm hopeless with dates. Describe it to me just enough that I know what you're talking about. Then I'll draw it."

"If you have a description, won't that defeat the point?" Hill pointed out.

"Keep it as brief as possible. The bare minimum for me to know what you mean. Just a couple of words should do, I'll ask if I need more. There'll be a difference between what's said and what I draw, believe me."

Her audience looked sceptical, but there was silence as they cast through their memories to find a suitable example. Loki was curious to know what they might choose.

"That's very specific criteria," Banner commented, "You realise that this is SHIELD, they're proof that there's very little that's impossible to find out if you have the right resources, the right contacts."

"I know," Efanna agreed, "Just think of something that fits best. I'm willing to do as many as I need to for you to believe me. I'm sure I'm being overly fastidious, but I know you don't trust me and will try and point out any other way I might have got the information. I thought that if I went at it from the same angle it would make it easier. I'm hoping the pictures will speak for themselves though, once you've seen them."

"What the hell," Stark announced, "You're so sure you can do this? Fine. You said you Saw what happened in Afghanistan. So: what I saw when I woke up there - no, hold on, they were filming that."

"It was a live feed though," Efa supplied, "They didn't record anything. And I can draw much more than their cameras ever saw."

Stark's eyebrows raised at her assertion.

"Go on then," he challenged.

"After the surgery?" Efa queried, "Or when they film your ransom? I'm guessing you don't mean during the surgery itself."

"After." Stark's words were short and clipped. "I was barely conscious during."

"I still Saw it."

Loki was not the only one who noticed the hardness that crept into Efanna's voice. The melancholy that seemed so out of place with her usual demeanour. It was hard to ignore the tightly-controlled emotion that had layered her words. Stark was scrutinising her, obviously uncomfortable with the notion that she might be telling the truth and what he would then have to accept she knew about him. Their eyes locked for a moment and Loki knew the mortal was being bombarded by the unnerving understanding that so often filled the redhead's gaze.

"Don't try and talk to me whilst I'm drawing," she said, turning back to the paper in front of her and choosing a pen. "I have to shut out everything else, so I won't hear you."

Her eyes flitted around the table once more, finally stopping on Loki for a moment. He could see the vulnerability there, the worry, even fear. Once again she was biting her lip. He remembered her admission that morning, when she had visited him before they'd been escorted here, that she was scared they would hate her. Her testament that she couldn't do this without him. Only a few short weeks ago her eyes had held that same fear that _he_ would hate her, yet now she seemed curiously dependant on him. The wild, irrepressible, emotional creature still baffled him.

She took a deep breath then, turning to her paper and closing her eyes before releasing it slowly as she moved the pen to hover over the centre of the page. As Loki watched her shoulders relaxed and her back straightened. With another breath she opened her eyes and quietly murmured a few words in what Loki now recognised as Welsh. Her eyes seemed to focus on something beyond the paper and slowly the pen began to ghost across the page, her arm appearing to move of its own volition, though Loki knew it was acting on the directions of her subconscious. A curious hush fell over the room and even Loki found it hard not to watch as the paper filled before them.

The picture that grew was rough, sketchy, the interior of the cave it depicted at first seeming rather unremarkable. But it was the detail which defined it, tiny things, most that Loki doubted Stark would have even noticed when he had actually been there. Although the place was in no way familiar to Loki, it was obvious that the picture was an uncanny representation of the mortal's memory.

o

It was always a disorientating experience when her subconscious relinquished control back to her conscious mind, but doing so under a room full of intense stares was even more so. Efa shook her head slightly as her eyes swam back into focus. Once again the reality of the present she was actually living was asserting upon her just how, well, _real_ it was. It still wasn't something she was particularly used to. Ignoring everyone else for a moment she looked down at the illustration she'd just produced, critically noticing areas which she could probably have drawn better if she'd been doing it as a piece of art. That's not what it was though, she reminded herself firmly. Whilst she could have produced the image without the aid of her subconscious it would have taken a lot longer, and inevitably things would have been left out, or areas distorted slightly. This was simply a recording of what her inner mind told her she needed to know, or in this case show.

Once again sucking in the corner of her lip to chew upon her eyes flicked up to the rest of the room. Interestingly a lot of them were now watching Tony, not just her. Efa cast her gaze over to him nervously, handing the drawing over and wondering what he was thinking. His eyebrows were raised and Efanna got the feeling that he hadn't really believed she was going to produce anything of worth.

"The perspective's a little odd," she apologised, "I See things from a sort of third person point of view." She didn't bother to ask him what he thought, she knew that what she'd drawn was accurate.

"Wow. That's…"

Tony looked up at her, his eyes searching her expression fully, obviously trying to figure out if this was all just a trick somehow.

"Okay, I'll admit, I was not expecting that," he confessed finally, looking back down at the picture and then pushing it away from him slightly, almost as though in distaste. Efa wondered whether that was because he wasn't happy with the idea she could do that, or whether the memory itself was making him uncomfortable. Or both.

"It's accurate?" Bruce asked.

"Scarily so."

Tony flicked his eyes back to her.

"As crazy as your story sounds, I'm starting to wonder if you might actually be telling the truth here," he admitted grudgingly after a moment. "Because that is just … _exact_."

Efanna wasn't sure if she was relieved to hear that or not. Being believed was obviously the goal here, but she still wasn't sure what they'd do after. Nervously she reached back under the table again. Pip had laid down a while back, leaning up against her legs but he quickly sat up again as she shuffled her feet. Once more he shoved his head in her lap and she began distractedly stroking his ears as discussion formed around her.

About forty minutes later she was beginning to think she had them convinced. There were several more drawings scattered about the table, each of which had brought forth discussions about how else she could have gained such information, how much she could have realistically invented or simply assumed to be there, and how accurate it really was given that they could only be corroborated by one person's memory, the quality of which had also been questioned several times. The consistency of her accuracy and the extreme detail she produced were beginning to sway them however. They were being given a steady stream of evidence and trying to dispute it with suggestion and coincidence. Regardless of how fantastical her abilities sounded, logic was piling up in her favour.

This was all what Efanna had expected, but the process was beginning to tire her. Digging into her memory for particular moments like this took more effort than the usual process of clearing her mind each night. Added to her lack of sleep, the sheer amount that had happened the day before, jet lag, and her state of heightened emotional tension, this was quickly becoming a feat of endurance. She glanced over at Loki who was sitting in silence, almost forgotten. His eyes however were alert, flitting around the table and, Efanna was sure, missing very little. Noticing her watching he turned his gaze on her for a moment. Efa wasn't sure what might be going on behind that intense stare, and that worried her slightly.

"You believe her then?"

Agent Hill's question jerked her back to the conversation. Were they finally going to make some sort of a decision?

"I see no reason not to," Thor said, "There is validity to your concerns but I see no other explanation that could truly explain the extent, and timing of Efanna's knowledge. There is more for her yet to tell us, certainly, more I wish to know, but thus far she has complied with every request and answered every question we have put to her without hesitation. I believe she is telling the truth."

Efanna gave Thor a grateful smile, which he returned. It seemed she had at least one ally.

"Or she's playing a very clever, very elaborate game," Fury argued.

Efa wasn't sure whether he actually believed this was true, or just putting the suggestion out there for the others to consider.

"I don't know," Bruce said, "Visions? It may sound unlikely, but it does make sense when you consider what we know about her. And who are we to say what's possible and what's not? We're not exactly normal ourselves."

"It does all seem to be adding up in her favour," Tony agreed, "I don't like it, but our arguments are pretty flimsy here."

Efa bit her lip and held her breath. So that was three of them who believed her, even if it was reluctantly. She looked round the table at the others. Was it enough for them too?

"Yesterday. Second attack," Natasha said suddenly. "You were already on the jet and you've been under observation ever since. We know no one's told you anything. You already said you Saw me there, there's no other way you could know what I mean. If what you draw is on par with the detail in these-" she gestured to the nearest drawing "-Then there's no way you could've just made it up."

Efanna nodded. She ran through the brief herself and couldn't think of any other way they could suggest she might've got the information. A couple of minutes later she slid the finished picture across the table. It centred on the agent, a gun in each hand and a thin beam of torchlight stretching out in front of her with a background of dark, mangled and frozen machinery. Blood trickled down from a cut on her cheek and a single drop had fallen from a second on her left arm, half frozen as it met the mist that clung to the floor. The room fell silent again as Natasha considered the image.

"Well?" Fury asked

"It's accurate," Natasha confirmed, "She's telling the truth. I don't see any other way she could have drawn this."


End file.
